A Titanic Torchwood Style rewrite
by Awatere11
Summary: So after the horror of Usual Suspects I thought you might like something you all know and love destroyed. Jack is..well..Jack but Rose is now Ianto. An alt verse where Gentry are male versions of ladies, their suits silky wafty material, soft colours and lots of fluffing. Ianto must marry Lisant to please his mother, Jack and Owen won tickets. Love crumbly cakes xxxxxx
1. Chapter 1

1

 _ **It's been 84 years... and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in.**_

 _ **Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was...**_

The gleaming white superstructure of Titanic rises mountainously beyond the rail, and above that the buff-coloured funnels stand against the sky like the pillars of a great temple. Crewmen move across the deck, dwarfed by the awesome scale of the steamer.

Southampton, England, April 10, 1912. It is almost noon on ailing day. A crowd of hundreds blackens the pier next to Titanic like ants on a jelly sandwich.

A gorgeous burgundy Renault Touring Car swings into frame, hanging from a loading crane. It is lowered toward HATCH #2.

On the pier horse drawn vehicles, motorcars and lorries move slowly through the dense throng. The atmosphere is one of excitement and general giddiness. People embrace in tearful farewells, or wave and shout bon voyage wishes to friends and relatives on the decks above.

A white Renault, leading a silver-gray Daimler-Benz, pushes through the crowd leaving a wake in the press of people. Around the handsome cars people are streaming to board the ship, jostling with hustling seamen and stokers, porters, and barking WHITE STAR LINE officials.

The Renault stops and the Driver scurries to open the door for a Young Man dressed in a stunning white and purple suit, with an enormous feathered hat. He is 21 years old and handsome, regal of bearing, with piercing eyes.

He looks up at the ship, taking it in with cool appraisal. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauretania."

A Personal Valet opens the door on the other side of the car for Lisant Hallett, the 30 year old heir to the elder Hallett's fortune. "Lee" is handsome, arrogant and rich beyond meaning.

"You can be blasé about some things, Ianto, but not about Titanic. It's over a hundred feet longer than Mauretania, and far more luxurious. It has squash courts, a Parisian cafe... even Turkish baths."

Lee turns and gives his hand to Ianto's mother, Rhiannon Jones, who descends from the touring car being him. Rhiannon is a 40ish society empress, from one of the most prominent Welsh families. She is a widow, and rules her household with iron will.

"Your son is much too hard to impress, Rhiannon." Lee snorts as he nods at their feet indicating a puddle "Mind your step."

Rhiannon is gazing at the leviathan "So this is the ship they say is unsinkable."

"It is unsinkable. God himself couldn't sink this ship." Lee speaks with the pride of a host providing a special experience.

This entire entourage of wealth is impeccably turned out, a quintessential example of the Edwardian upper class, complete with servants. Lee's Valet, Yon Hartman, is a tall and impassive, dour as an undertaker. Behind him emerge Two Maids, personal servants to Rhiannon and Ianto.

A WHITE STAR LINE Porter scurries toward them, harried by last minute loading. "Sir, you'll have to check your baggage through the main terminal, round that way…"

Lee nonchalantly hands the man a fiver. The porter's eyes dilate. Five pounds was a monster tip in those days.

"I put my faith in you, good sir." Lee says curtly, indicating Hartman "See my man."

"Yes, sir. My pleasure, sir."

Lee never tires of the effect of money on the unwashed masses.

Hartman to the porter "These trunks here, and 12 more in the Daimler. We'll have all this lot up in the rooms."

The White Star man looks stricken when he sees the enormous pile of steamer trunks and suitcases loading down the second car, including wooden crates and steel safe. He whistles frantically for some cargo-handlers nearby who come running.

Lee breezes on, leaving the minions to scramble. He quickly checks his pocket watch. "We'd better hurry. This way, family."

He indicates the way toward the first class gangway. They move into the crowd. TOSHIKO SATO, Ianto's maid, hustles behind them, laden with bags of her master's most recent purchases... things too delicate for the baggage handlers.

Lee leads, weaving between vehicles and handcarts, hurrying passengers (mostly second class and steerage) and well-wishers. Most of the first class passengers are avoiding the smelly press of the dockside crowd by using an elevated boarding bridge, twenty feet above.

They pass a line of steerage passengers in their coarse wool and tweeds, queued up inside movable barriers like cattle in a chute. A Health Officer examines their heads one by one, checking scalp and eyelashes for lice.

They pass a well-dressed young man cranking the handle of a wooden Biograph "cinematograph" camera mounted on a tripod. Naniel Marvin (whose father founded the Biograph Film Studio) is filming his young bride in front of the Titanic. Mary Marvin stands stiffly and smiles, self conscious.

"Look up at the ship, darling, that's it. You're amazed! You can't believe how big it is! Like a mountain. That's great." Mary Marvin, without an acting fibre in her body, does a bad Clara Bow pantomime of awe, hands raised.

Lee is jostled by two yelling steerage boys who shove past him. And he is bumped again a second later by the boys' father. Lee snarls "Steady!"

"Sorry squire!" The Cockney father pushes on, after his kids, shouting.

"Steerage swine. Apparently missed his annual bath." Lee sniffs.

"Honestly, Lee, if you weren't forever booking everything at the last instant, we could have gone through the terminal instead of running along the dock like some squalid immigrant family." Rhiannon says pompously as Ianto tries to ignore them, still taking in the mighty vessel.

"All part of my charm, Rhiannon. At any rate, it was my darling fiancée's beauty rituals which made us late." Lee retprts and Ianto finally lowered his gaze to meet Lee's.

"You told me to change." His voice is soft, the Welsh lit almost musical as he frowns. Something Lee hates.

"I couldn't let you wear black on sailing day, sweet pea. It's bad luck." Lee smiles charmingly, "And do smile dear."

"I felt like black." Ianto mutters.

Lee guides them out of the path of a horse-drawn wagon loaded down with two tons of Oxford Marmalade, in wooden cases.

"Here I've pulled every string I could to book us on the grandest ship in history, in her most luxurious suites... and you act as if you're going to your execution." Lee laughs as he motioned for them to walk again.

Ianto looks up as the hull of Titanic looms over them...a great iron wall, Bible black and sever. Lee motions him forward, and he enters the gangway to the D Deck doors with a sense of overwhelming dread.

 _ **It was the ship of dreams... to everyone else. To me it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains.**_

Lee's hand closes possessively over Ianto's arm. He escorts him up the gangway and the black hull of Titanic swallows them.

 _ **Outwardly I was everything a well brought up gentleman should be. Inside, I was screaming.**_

A screaming blast from the mighty triple steam horns on Titanic's funnels, bellowing their departure warning has Ianto gasping and moving toward Lee for comfort as he laughs.

Towering above the terminal buildings like the skyline of a city, the steamer's whistle echoes across Southampton.

Next to the dock is a pub. It is crowded with dockworkers and ship's crew.

Just inside the window, a poker game is in progress. Four Men, in working class clothes, play a very serious hand.

Jack Harkness and Owen Harper, both about 30, exchange a glance as the other two players argue in Swedish. Jack is American, a lanky drifter with his hair a little long for the standards of the times. He is also unshaven, and his clothes are rumpled from sleeping in them. He is an artist, and has adopted the bohemian style of art scene in Paris. He is also very self-possessed and sure-footed for 30, having lived on his own since 15.

The Two Swedes continue their sullen argument, in Swedish. "You stupid fish head. I can't believe you bet our tickets."

"You lost our money. I'm just trying to get it back. Now shut up and take a card." His brother snarls in their mother tongue.

"Hit me again, Sven" Jack slaps the table and then Jack takes the card and slips it into his hand. Jack's eyes drink in the new card. They betray nothing. Owen is licking his lips nervously as he refuses a card. Bills and coins from four countries are piled in the middle of the table. This has been going on for a while. Sitting on top of the money are two 3RD

Class Tickets for RMS TITANIC.

The Titanic's whistle blows again. Final warning.

"The moment of truth boys. Somebody's life's about to change." Owen puts his cards down. So do the Swedes. Jack holds his close.

"Let's see... Owen's got nothing. Olaf, you've got squat. Sven, uh oh...two pair... mmm." Jack turns to his friend "Sorry Owen."

"What sorry? What you got? You lose my money?"

"Sorry, you're not gonna see your mama again for a long time..." He slaps a full house down on the table. He bellows grinning "Cause you're goin' to America! Full house boys!"

"Suck it! YEEAAAAA!" Owen screams and the table explodes into shouting in several languages. Jack rakes in the money and the tickets.

Jack speaks to the Swedes "Sorry boys. Three of a kind and a pair. I'm high and you're dry and..."

He turns to Owen "... we're going to…"

"AMERICA!" Owen screams with glee.

Olaf balls up one huge farmer's fist. We think he's going to clobber Jack, but he swings round and punches Sven, who flops backward onto the floor and sits there, looking depressed. Olaf forgets about Jack and Owen, who are dancing around, and goes into a rapid harangue of his stupid brother.

Jack kisses the tickets, then jumps on Owen's back and rides him around the pub. It's like they won the lottery.

"Goin' home... to the land o' the free and the home of the real hot-dogs! On the TITANIC! We're ridin' in high style now! We're practically goddamned royalty!" Jack is crowing.

"You see? It is my destiny! Like I told you. I go to America! To be a millionaire!" Owen grins to pub keeper "I go to America!"

"No, mate. Titanic goes to America. In five minutes."

"Shit! Come on, Owen!" Jack yes grabbing their stuff "Come on!"

They run for the door.


	2. Chapter 2

_**2**_

Jack and Owen, carrying everything they own in the world in the kit bags on their shoulders, sprint toward the pier. They tear through milling crowds next to the terminal. Shouts go up behind them as they jostle slow-moving gentlemen. They dodge piles of luggage, and weave through groups of people. They burst out onto the pier and Jack comes to a dead stop... staring at the cast wall of the ship's hull, towering seven stories above the wharf and over an eighth of a mile long. The Titanic is monstrous.

Owen runs back and grabs Jack, and they sprint toward the third class gangway aft, at E deck. They reach the bottom of the ramp just as Sixth Officer Moody detaches it at the top. It starts to swing down from the gangway doors.

"Wait! We're passengers!" Jack yells. Flushed and panting, he waves the tickets.

"Have you been through the inspection queue?"

Lying cheerfully Jack laughs "Of course! Anyway, we don't have lice, we're Americans. (glances at Owen) Both of us."

"Right, come aboard."

Moody has Quartermaster Rowe reattach the gangway. Jack and Owen come aboard. Moody glances at the tickets, then passes Jack and Owen through to Rowe. Rowe looks at the names on the tickets to enter them in the passenger list.

"Gundersen. And...(reading Owen's) Gundersen." He hands the tickets back, eyeing Owen's rate faced looks suspiciously.

Grabbing Owen's arm Jack says calmly "Come on, Sven."

Jack and Owen whoop with victory as they run down the white-painted corridor... grinning from ear to ear.

"We are the luckiest sons of bitches in the world!" Jack gushes.

.

.

The mooring lines, as big around as a man's arm, are dropped into the water. A cheer goes up on the pier as Seven Tugs pull the Titanic away from the quay.

Jack and Owen burst through a door onto the aft well deck. They run across the deck and up the steel stairs to the poop deck. They get to the rail and Jack starts to yell and wave to the crowd onthe dock.

"You know somebody?" Owen asks.

"Of course not. That's not the point." Jack replies then yells to the crowd "Goodbye! Goodbye! I'll miss you!"

Grinning, Owen joins in, adding his voice to the swell of voices, feeling the exhilaration of the moment. "Goodbye! I will never forget you!"

The crowd of cheering well-wishers waves heartily as a black wall of metal moves past them. Impossibly tiny figures wave back from the ship's rails.

Titanic gathers speed.

Jack and Owen walk down a narrow corridor with doors lining both sides like a college dorm. Total confusion as people argue over luggage in several languages, or wander in confusion in the labyrinth. They pass emigrants studying the signs over the doors, and looking up the words in phrase books.

They find their berth. It is a modest cubicle, painted enamel white, with four bunks. Exposed pipes overhead. The other two guys are already there.

OLAUS and BJORN GUNDERSEN.

Jack throws his kit on one open bunk, while Owen takes the other.

"Where is Sven?" one whispers as he wondered when their cousins are.

By contrast, the so-called "Millionaire Suite" is in the Empire style, and comprises two bedrooms, a bath, WC, wardrobe room, and a large sitting room. In addition there is a private 50 foot promenade deck outside.

A room service waiter pours champagne into a tulip glass of orange juice and hands the Bucks Fizz to Ianto. He is looking through his new paintings. There is a Monet of water lilies, a Degas of dancers, and a few abstract works. They are all unknown paintings... lost works.

Lee is out on the covered deck, which has potted trees and vines on trellises, talking through the doorway to Ianto in the sitting room.

"Those mud puddles were certainly a waste of money."

Ianto is looking at a cubist portrait "You're wrong. They're fascinating. Like in a dream... there's truth without logic. What's his name again... Picasso?"

Coming into the sitting room Lee replies "He'll never amount to a thing, trust me. At least they were cheap."

A porter wheels Lee's private safe into the room on a hand truck.

"Put that in the wardrobe." Lee demands and Ianto follows them into the bedroom. Ianto enters with the large Degas of the dancers. He sets it on the dresser, near the canopy bed. Toshiko is already in there, hanging up some of Ianto's clothes.

"It smells so brand new. Like they built it all just for us. I mean... just to think that tonight, when I crawl between the sheets, I'll be the first …" Toshiko says to Ianto then pauses as Lee appears in the doorway of the bedroom.

"And when I crawl between the sheets tonight, I'll still be the first." Lee leers as he winks.

Blushing at the innuendo Toshiko glances at Ianto "S'cuse me, Sir."

She edges around Lee and makes a quick exit. Lee comes up behind Ianto and puts his hands on his shoulders. An act of possession, not intimacy. "The first and only. Forever."

Ianto's expression shows how bleak a prospect this is for him, now.

.

.

Titanic stands silhouetted against a purple post-sunset sky. She is lit up like a floating palace, and her thousand portholes reflect in the calm harbour waters. The 150 foot tender Nomadic lies-to alongside, looking like a rowboat. The lights of a Cherbourg harbour complete the postcard image.

Entering the first class reception room from the tender are a number of prominent passengers. A Broad-Shouldered Woman in an enormous feathered hat comes up the gangway, carrying a suitcase in each hand, a spindly porter running to catch up with her to take the bags.

"Well, I wasn't about to wait all day for you, sonny. Take 'em the rest of the way if you think you can manage."

 _ **At Cherbourg a woman came aboard named Gwyneth Cooper, but we all called her Gwen. History would call her the Unsinkable Gwen Cooper. Her husband had struck gold someplace out west, and she was what mother called "new money".**_

 _ **At 45, Gwen Cooper is a tough talking straight shooter who dresses in the finery of her genteel peers but will never be one of them.**_

 _ **By the next afternoon we had made our final stop and we were steaming west from the coast of Ireland, with nothing out ahead of us but ocean...**_

The ship glows with the warm creamy light of late afternoon. Jack and Owen stand right at the bow gripping the curving railing so familiar from images of the wreck. Jack leans over, looking down fifty feet to where the prow cuts the surface like a knife, sending up two glassy sheets of water.

On the bridge, Captain Smith turns from the binnacle to First Officer William Murdoch. "Take her to sea Mister Murdoch. Let's stretch her legs."

Murdoch moves the engine telegraph lever to ALL AHEAD FULL.

In the engine room the telegraph clangs and moves to "All Ahead Full".

"All ahead full!" the Chief yells and on the catwalk Thomas Andrews, the shipbuilder, watches carefully as the engineers and greasers scramble to adjust valves. Towering above them are the twin engines, four stories tall, their ten-foot-long connecting rods surging up and down with the turning of the massive crankshafts. The engines thunder like the footfalls of marching giants.

"Twenty one knots, sir!" Murdoch calls.

"She's got a bone in her teeth now, eh, Mr. Murdoch." Smith accepts a cup of tea from Fifth Officer Lowe. He contentedly watches the white V of water hurled outward from the bows like an expression of his own personal power. They are invulnerable, towering over the sea.

Jack and Owen lean far over the bow, looking down.

In the glassy bow-wave two dolphins appear, under the water, running fast just in front of the steel blade of the prow. They do it for the sheer joy and exultation of motion. Jack watches the dolphins and grins. They breach, jumping clear of the water and then dive back, crisscrossing in front of the bow, dancing ahead of the juggernaut.

Owen looks forward across the Atlantic, staring into the sun sparkles. "I can see the Statue of Liberty already. (grinning at Jack) Very small... of course."

.

.

"...and our master shipbuilder, Mr. Andrews here, designed her from the keel plates up." A fat man called Ismay is booming to those assembled in the drawing room.

He indicates a handsome 39 year old Irish gentlemen to his right, Thomas Andrews, of Harland and Wolf Shipbuilders. The group is assembled for lunch. Ismay seated with Lee, Ianto, Rhiannon, Gwen Cooper and Thomas Andrews in the Palm Court, a beautiful sunny spot enclosed by high arched windows.

Disliking the attention Andrews says softly "Well, I may have knocked her together, but the idea was Mr. Ismay's. He envisioned a steamer so grand in scale, and so luxurious in its appointments, that its supremacy would never be challenged. And here she is...willed into solid reality."

"Why're ships always being called "she"? Is it because men think half the women around have big sterns and should be weighed in tonnage?" Gwen asks.

They all laugh as Gwen looks around the table, "Just another example of the men setting' the rules their way."

The waiter arrives to take orders. Ianto lights a cigarette.

"You know I don't like that, Ianto." Rhiannon scolds as Ianto rolls his eyes.

"He knows" Lee replies as he takes the cigarette from him and stubs it out. He then turns to the waiter "We'll both have the lamb. Rare, with a little mint sauce."

To Ianto, after the waiter moves away he says "You like lamb, don't you sweet pea?"

Gwen is watching the dynamic between Ianto, Cal and Rhiannon.

"So, you gonna cut his meat for him too there, Lee?" she snorts then turning to Ismay she asks "Hey, who came up with the name Titanic? You, Bruce?"

"Yes, actually. I wanted to convey sheer size. And size means stability, luxury... and safety…"

"Do you know of Dr. Freud? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you, Mr. Ismay." Ianto drolls as Andrews chokes on his breadstick, suppressing laughter.

"My God, Ianto, what's gotten into…" Rhiannon splutters.

"Excuse me." Ianto sighs as he stalks away.

Mortified, Rhiannon addresses the table "I do apologize."

"He's a pistol, Lee." Gwen laughs "You sure you can handle him?"

Lee is tense but feigning unconcern "Well, I may have to start minding what he reads from now on."


	3. Chapter 3

_**3**_

Jack sits on a bench in the sun. Titanic's wake spreads out behind him to the horizon. He has his knees pulled up, supporting a leather bound sketching pad, his only valuable possession. With crayon he draws rapidly, using sure strokes. An emigrant from Manchester named Cartmell has his 3 year old daughter Cora standing on the lower rung of the rail. She is leaned back against his beer barrel of a stomach, watching the seagulls.

The sketch captures them perfectly, with a great sense of the humanity of the moment. Jack is good. Really good. Owen looks over Jack's shoulder. He nods appreciatively.

Tommy Ryan, a scowling young Irish emigrant, watches as a crewmember comes by, walking three small dogs around the deck. One of them, a black French bulldog is among the ugliest creatures on the planet. "That's typical. First class dogs come down here to take a shit."

Jack looks up from his sketch. "That's so we know where we rank in the scheme of things."

"Like we could forget."

Jack glances across the well deck. At the aft railing of B deck promenade stands Ianto, in a pale yellow suit and white gloves.

Jack is unable to take his eyes off of him. They are across from each other, about 60 feet apart, with the well deck like a valley between them. Ianto on his promontory, Jack on his much lower one. Ianto stares down at the water.

Jack watches him unpin his elaborate hat and take it off. He looks at the frilly absurd thing, then tosses it over the rail. It sails far down to the water and is carried away, astern. A spot of yellow in the vast ocean. Jack is riveted by him. He looks like a figure in a romantic novel, sad and isolated.

Owen taps Tommy and they both look at Jack gazing at Ianto. Owen and Tommy grin at each other.

Ianto turns suddenly and looks right at Jack. He is caught staring, but he doesn't look away. Ianto does, but then looks back. Their eyes meet across the space of the well deck, across the gulf between worlds.

Jack sees a man (Lee) come up behind him and take his arm. Ianto jerks his arm away. They argue in pantomime. Ianto storms away, and he goes after him, disappearing along the A-deck promenade. Jack stares after him.

"Forget it, boyo. You'd as like have angels fly out o' yer arse as get next to the likes o' him." Tommy laughs.

.

.

.

Ianto sits in the first class dining saloon that night, flanked by people in heated conversation. Lee and Rhiannon are laughing together, while on the other side Lady Duff-Gordon is holding forth animatedly. We don't hear what they are saying. Ianto is staring at his plate, barely listening to the inconsequential babble around him.

 _ **I saw my whole life as if I'd already lived it... an endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches... always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I felt like I was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull me back, no one who cared... or even noticed.**_

Ianto's hand under the table is hidden, holding a tiny fork from his crab salad. He pokes the crab-fork into the skin of his arm, harder and harder until it draws blood.

Later Ianto walks along the corridor. A steward coming the other way greets him, and he nods with a slight smile. He is perfectly composed.

He reaches the berth and heads for the bedroom. He enters the room. Stands in the middle, staring at his reflection in the large vanity mirror. Just stands there, then… With a primal, anguished cry he claws at his throat, ripping off the silk tie. In a frenzy he tears at himself, his clothes, his hair... then attacks the room. He flings everything off the dresser and it flies clattering against the wall. He hurls a hand mirror against the vanity, cracking it.

Ianto runs along the B deck promenade. He is dishevelled, his hair flying. He is crying, his cheeks streaked with tears. But also angry, furious! Shaking with emotions he doesn't understand... hatred, self-hatred, desperation. A strolling couple watch him pass. Shocked at the emotional display in public.

Jack is kicked back on one of the benches gazing at the stars blazing gloriously overhead. Thinking artist thoughts and smoking a cigarette.

Hearing something, he turns as Ianto runs up the stairs from the well deck. They are the only two on the stern deck, except for Quartermaster Rowe, twenty feet above them on the docking bridge catwalk. He doesn't see Jack in the shadows, and runs right past him.

He runs across the deserted fantail. Her breath hitches in an occasional sob, which she suppresses. Ianto slams against the base of the stern flagpole and clings there, panting. He stares out at the black water. Then starts to climb over the railing. He has to hitch his long trouser legs way up, and climbing is clumsy. Moving methodically he turns his body and gets his shoes on the white-painted gunwale, his back to the railing, facing out toward blackness. 60 feet below him, the massive propellers are churning the Atlantic into white foam, and a ghostly wake trails off toward the horizon.

Ianto is standing like a figurehead in reverse. Below him are the huge letters of the name "TITANIC". He leans out, his arms straightening... looking down hypnotized, into the vortex below him. His scarf and hair are lifted by the wind of the ship's movement. The only sound, above the rush of water below, is the flutter and snap of the big Union Jack right above him.

"Don't do it."

Ianto whips his head around at the sound of Jack's voice. It takes a second for his eyes to focus. "Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

Jack sees the tear tracks on his cheeks in the faint glow from the stern running lights. "Take my hand. I'll pull you back in."

"No! Stay where you are. I mean it. I'll let go."

"No you won't."

"What do you mean no I won't?" Ianto bristles with annoyance "Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do. You don't know me."

"You would have done it already. Now come on, take my hand."

Ianto is confused now. He can't see him very well through the tears, so he wipes them with one hand, almost losing his balance. "You're distracting me. Go away."

"I can't. I'm involved now. If you let go I have to jump in after you."

"Don't be absurd. You'll be killed." Ianto huffs.

Jack takes off his jacket.

"I'm a good swimmer." He starts unlacing his left shoe.

"The fall alone would kill you." Ianto glances at him again.

"It would hurt. I'm not saying it wouldn't. To be honest I'm a lot more concerned about the water being so cold." Jack replies calmly.

Ianto looks down. The reality factor of what se is doing is sinking in. "How cold?"

Taking off his left shoe Jack considers "Freezing. Maybe a couple degrees over."

He starts unlacing his right shoe. "Ever been to Wisconsin?"

"No."

"Well they have some of the coldest winters around, and I grew up there, near Chippewa Falls. Once when I was a kid me and my father were ice-fishing out on Lake Wissota... ice-fishing's where you chop a hole in the…"

"I know what ice fishing is!" Ianto snaps.

"Sorry. Just... you look like kind of an indoor guy. Anyway, I went through some thin ice and I'm tellin' ya, water that cold... like that right down there... it hits you like a thousand knives all over your body. You can't breath, you can't think... least not about anything but the pain." Jack shrugs as he takes off his other shoe "Which is why I'm not looking forward to jumping in after you. But like I said, I don't see a choice. I guess I'm kinda hoping you'll come back over the rail and get me off the hook here."

"You're crazy." Ianto says with wide eyes as he stares at Jack over his shoulder.

"That's what everybody says. But with all due respect, I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship." Jack agrees. He slides one step closer, like moving up on a spooked horse. "Come on. You don't want to do this. Give me your hand."

Ianto stares at this madman for a long time. he looks at his eyes and they somehow suddenly seem to fill his universe. "Alright."

He unfastens one hand from the rail and reaches it around toward him.

Jack reaches out to take it, firmly. "I'm Jack Harkness."

Ianto answers with his voice quavering "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Harkness."

Ianto starts to turn. Now that he has decided to live, the height is terrifying. He is overcome by vertigo as he shifts his footing, turning to face the ship. As he starts to climb, his shiny soled shoes loose traction and one foot slips off the edge of the deck.

He plunges, letting out a piercing shriek. Jack, gripping his hand, is jerked toward the rail. Ianto barely grabs a lower rail with his free hand. Quartermaster Rowe, up on the docking bridge hears the scream and heads for the ladder.

"HELP!" Ianto screams "HELP!"

"I've got you. I won't let go." Jack holds his hand with all his strength, bracing himself on the railing with his other hand. Ianto tries to get some kind of foothold on the smooth hull. Jack tries to lift him bodily over the railing. He can't get any footing in his evening shoes, and he slips back. Ianto SCREAMS again.

Jack, awkwardly clutching Ianto by whatever he can get a grip on as he flails, gets him over the railing. They fall together onto the deck in a tangled heap, spinning in such a way that Jack winds up slightly on top of him.

Rowe slides down the ladder from the docking bridge like it's a fire drill and sprints across the fantail. "Here, what's all this?!"

Rowe runs up and pulls Jack off of Ianto, revealing him dishevelled and sobbing on the deck. His dress shirt is torn, and the trousers half undone. He looks at Jack, the shaggy steerage man with his jacket off, and the first class gentleman clearly in distress, and starts drawing conclusions. Two seamen chug across the deck to join them.

Rowe barks to Jack "Here you, stand back! Don't move an inch!"

A few minutes later. Jack is being detained by the burly Master at Arms, the closest thing to a cop on board. He is handcuffing Jack. Lee is right in front of Jack, and furious. He has obviously just rushed out here with Hartman and another man, and none of them have coats over their black tie evening dress. The other man is Colonel Archibald Gracie, a moustachioed blowhard who still has his brandy snifter. He offers it to Ianto, who is hunched over crying on a bench nearby, but he waves it away. Lee is more concerned with Jack. He grabs him by the lapels. "What made you think you could put your hands on my fiancée?! Look at me, you filth! What did you think you were doing?!"

"Lee, stop! It was an accident." Ianto sobs.

"An accident?!" Lee screeches.

"It was... stupid really. I was leaning over and I slipped." Ianto looks at Jack, getting eye contact. "I was leaning way over, to see the... ah... propellers. And I slipped and I would have gone overboard... and Mr. Harkness here saved me and he almost went over himself."

Lee gapes "You wanted to see the propellers?"

Shaking his head Gracie sighs "Genrty and machinery do not mix."

Master at Arms says to Jack "Was that the way of it?"

Ianto is begging him with his eyes not to say what really happened.

"Uh huh. That was pretty much it." He looks at Ianto a moment longer. Now they have a secret together.

"Well! The boy's a hero then. Good for you son, well done!" the colonel barks then turns to Lee "So it's all's well and back to our brandy, eh?"

Jack is un-cuffed. Lee gets Ianto to his feet and moving.

"Let's get you in. You're freezing." Lee says with fake joviality, leaving without a second thought for Jack.

"Ah... perhaps a little something for the boy?" the colonel says to Lee in a low tone.

"Oh, right. Mr. Hartman. A twenty should do it." Lee waved a hand dismissively.

"Is that the going rate for saving the man you love?" Ianto asks shakily, smiling at the man he hates more than sin.

"Ianto is displeased. Mmm... what to do?" Lee turns back to Jack. He appraises him condescendingly... a steerage ruffian, unwashed and ill-mannered.

"I know." Lee says to Jack "Perhaps you could join us for dinner tomorrow, to regale our group with your heroic tale?"

looking straight at Ianto Jack nods "Sure. Count me in."

"Good. Settled then." Lee turns to go, putting a protective arm around Ianto. he leans close to Gracie as they walk away. "This should be amusing."

As Hartman passes Jack asks "Can I bum a cigarette?"

Hartman smoothly draws a silver cigarette case from his jacket and snaps it open. Jack takes a cigarette, then another, popping it behind his ear for later. Hartman lights Jack's cigarette.

"You'll want to tie those."

Jack looks at his shoes.

"Interesting that the young man slipped so mighty all of a sudden and you still had time to take of your jacket and shoes. Mmmm?" Hartman's expression is bland, but the eyes are cold. He turns away to join his group.

Jack snorts and looks back to sea.


	4. Chapter 4

_**4**_

IANTO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

As he undresses for bed Ianto sees Lee standing in his doorway, reflected in the cracked mirror of his vanity. He comes toward him.

Lee is unexpectedly tender "I know you've been melancholy, and I don't pretend to know why."

From behind his back he hands him a black velvet jewel case. Ianto takes it, numbly.

"I intended to save this till the engagement gala next week. But I thought tonight, perhaps a reminder of my feeling for you..."Lee says softly and Ianto slowly opens the box. Inside is a pocket watch of immense beauty. The face of it inside the opened case shines like a… a…

"My God... Lissy. Is it a…"

"Diamond. Yes it is. 56 carats." He turns Ianto to the mirror, staring behind him. "I had it made just for you, for your love of these things."

"Lee, it's... it's overwhelming." He gazes at the image of the two of them in the mirror.

"It's for royalty. And we are royalty." Lee smiles as his fingers caress Ianto's neck and throat as he explores the pale skin exposed with just a thin singlet between them. He seems himself to be disarmed by Ianto's elegance and beauty. His emotion is, for the first time, unguarded. "There's nothing I couldn't give you. There's nothing I'd deny you if you would deny me. Open your heart to me, Ianto."

 ** _Of course his gift was only to reflect light back onto himself, to_** **_illuminate the greatness that was Lisant Hallett. It was a cold stone... a heart of ice._**

The gleaming new Titanic of 1912, at the end of the enclosed promenade Ianto walks into the sunlight. He is stunningly dressed and walking with purpose.

 _ **As if I hadn't felt the sun in years.**_

It is Saturday April 13, 1912. Ianto unlatches the gate to go down into third class. The steerage men on the deck stop what they're doing and stare at him.

The Third Class General Room is the social centre of steerage life. It is stark by comparison to the opulence of first class, but is a loud, boisterous place. There are mothers with babies, kids running between the benches yelling in several languages and being scolded in several more. There are old women yelling, men playing chess, girls doing needlepoint and reading dime novels. There is even an upright piano and Tommy Ryan is noodling around it.

Three boys, shrieking and shouting, are scrambling around chasing a rat under the benches, trying to whomp it with a shoe and causing general havoc. Jack is playing with 5 year old Cora, drawing funny faces together in his sketchbook.

Owen is struggling to get a conversation going with an attractive Norwegian girl, Helga Dahl, sitting with her family at a table across the room.

"No Italian? Some little English?"

"No, no. Norwegian. Only." Helga's eye is caught by something. Owen looks, does a take... and Jack, curious, follows their gaze to see... Ianto, coming toward them. The activity in the room stops... a hush falls. Ianto feels suddenly self-conscious as the steerage passengers stare openly at this prince, some with resentment, others with awe. He spots Jack and gives a little smile, walking straight to him. He rises to meet him, smiling.

"Hello Jack".

Owen and Tommy are floored. It's like the slipper fitting Cinderella.

"Hello again."

"Could I speak to you in private?"

"Uh, yes. Of course. After you." He motions him ahead and follows. Jack glances over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised, as he walks out with him leaving a stunned silence.

Jack and Ianto walk side by side. They pass people reading and talking in steamer chairs, some of whom glance curiously at the mismatched couple. He feels out of place in his rough clothes. They are both awkward, for different reasons.

"So, you got a name by the way?" Jack finally asks.

"Ianto. Ianto Jones." Ianto glaces at him. "Mr. Harkness, I…"

"Jack."

"Jack... I feel like such an idiot. It took me all morning to get up the nerve to face you." Ianto sighs.

"Well, here you are." Jack grins.

"Here I am. I... I want to thank you for what you did. Not just for... for pulling me back. But for your discretion."

"You're welcome. Ianto."

"Look, I know what you must be thinking! Poor little rich boy. What does he know about misery?" Ianto scoffs as he faces him.

"That's not what I was thinking." Jack's voice is gentle, as are his eyes "What I was thinking was... what could have happened to hurt this man so much he thought he had no way out."

"I don't... it wasn't just one thing. It was everything. It was them, it was their whole world. And I was trapped in it, like an insect in amber." Ianto explains in a rush "I just had to get away... just run and run and run... and then I was at the back rail and there was no more ship... even the Titanic wasn't big enough. Not enough to get away from them. And before I'd really thought about it, I was over the rail. I was so furious. I'll show them. They'll be sorry!"

"Uh huh. They'll be sorry." Jack agrees, "Course you'll be dead."

Ianto lowers his head "Oh God, I am such an utter fool."

"That penguin last night, is he one of them?"

"Penguin? Oh, Lee! He is them."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"Worse I'm afraid." he shows him the engagement ring. A sizable diamond.

"Gawd look at that thing! You would have gone straight to the bottom."

They laugh together. A passing steward scowls at Jack, who is clearly not a first class passenger, but Ianto just glares him away.

"So you feel like you're stuck on a train you can't get off 'cause you're marryin' this fella." Jack surmises.

"Yes, exactly!"

Jack frowns with confusion "So don't marry him."

"If only it were that simple."

"It is that simple."

"Oh, Jack... please don't judge me until you've seen my world." Ianto looks away as his hurt shows.

"Well, I guess I will tonight."

Looking for another topic, any other topic, Ianto indicates his sketchbook. "What's this?"

"Just some sketches."

"May I?" Ianto asks with genuine interest. The question is rhetorical because he has already grabbed the book. He sits on a deck chair and opens the sketchbook… each one an expressive little bit of humanity: an old woman's hands, a sleeping man, a father and daughter at the rail. The faces are luminous and alive. His book is a celebration of the human condition. "Jack, these are quite good! Really, they are."

"Well, they didn't think too much of 'em in Paree." Jack huffs. Some loose sketches fall out and are taken by the wind. Jack scrambles after them... catching two, but the rest are gone, over the rail.

"Oh no! Oh, I'm so sorry. Truly!" Ianto wails.

"Well, they didn't think too much of 'em in Paree." Jack repeats. He snaps his wrist, shaking his drawing hand in a flourish. "I just seem to spew 'em out. Besides, they're not worth a damn anyway."

For emphasis he throws away the two he caught. They sail off.

Ianto is laughing now "You're deranged!"

He goes back to the book, turning a page. "Well, well..."

He has come upon a series of nudes. Ianto is transfixed by the languid beauty he has created. His nudes are soulful, real, with expressive hands and eyes. They feel more like portraits than studies of the human form...almost uncomfortably intimate. Ianto blushes, raising the book as some strollers go by. Trying to be very adult Ianto asks calmly "And these were drawn from life?"

"Yup. That's one of the great things about Paris. Lots of girls willing take their clothes off." Jack laughs without a care.

Ianto studies one drawing in particular, the girl posed half in sunlight, half in shadow. Her hands lie at her chin, one furled and one open like a flower, languid and graceful. The drawing is like an Alfred Steiglitz print of Georgia O'Keefe. "You liked this woman. You used her several times."

"She had beautiful hands."

"I think you must have had a love affair with her..." Ianto teases softly.

Laughing Jack splutters "No, no! Just with her hands."

Looking up from the drawings Into meets his gaze "You have a gift, Jack. You do. You see people."

"I see you." There it is. That piercing gaze again.

"And...?"

"You wouldn'ta jumped."

.

.

.

RECEPTION ROOM / D-DECK

Rhiannon is having tea with Noel Lucy Martha Dyer-Edwardes, the Countess of Eothes a 35ish English blue-blood with horse-like features. Rhiannon sees someone coming across the room and lowers her voice. "Oh no, that vulgar Cooper woman is coming this way. Get up, quickly before she sits with us."

Gwen Cooper walks up, greeting them cheerfully as they are rising. "Hello girls, I was hoping I'd catch you at tea."

"We're awfully sorry you missed it. The Countess and I are just off to take the air on the boat deck." Rhiannon replies snottily.

"That sounds great. Let's go. I need to catch up on the gossip."

Rhiannon grits her teeth as the three of them head for the Grand Staircase to go up.

Gwen has a moment of triumph and knows it.


	5. Chapter 5

_**5**_

Ianto and Jack stroll aft, past people lounging on deck chairs in the slanting late-afternoon light. Stewards scurry to serve tea or hot cocoa.

"You know, my dream has always been to just chuck it all and become an artist... living in a garret, poor but free!" Ianto skips with a child-like glee.

Laughing Jack replies "You wouldn't last two days. There's no hot water, and hardly ever any caviar."

Angry in a flash Ianto swings on him "Listen, buster... I hate caviar! And I'm tired of people dismissing my dreams with a chuckle and a pat on the head."

"I'm sorry. Really... I am."

"Well, alright. There's something in me, Jack. I feel it. I don't know what it is, whether I should be an artist, or, I don't know... a dancer. Like Isadora Duncan... a wild pagan spirit..." he leaps forward, lands deftly and whirls like a dervish. he takes his hand and runs, pulling him along the deck.

Painted with orange light, Jack and Ianto lean on the A-deck rail aft, shoulder to shoulder. The ship's lights come on.

It is a magical moment... perfect.

"So then what, Mr. Wandering Jack?"

"Well, then logging got to be too much like work, so I went down to Los Angelas to the pier in Santa Monica. That's a swell place, they even have a rollercoaster. I sketched portraits there for ten cents a piece." Jack considered his past.

"A whole ten cents?!" Ianto asked as he shakes his head knowing Jack could get so much more per sketch.

"Yeah; it was great money... I could make a dollar a day, sometimes. But only in summer. When it got cold, I decided to go to Paris and see what the real artists were doing."

Ianto looks at the dusk sky "Why can't I be like you Jack? Just head out for the horizon whenever I feel like it. Say we'll go there, sometime... to that pier... even if we only ever just talk about it."

Alright, we're going. We'll drink cheap beer and go on the rollercoaster until we throw up and we'll ride horses on the beach... right in the surf."

They are laughing and then hear a throat clearing so they turn to find Rhiannon standing there glaring at them both. Ianto takes a deep breath "Mother, may I introduce Jack Harkness."

"Charmed, I'm sure."

Gwen Cooper is grinning.

 _ **The others were gracious and curious about the man who'd saved my life. But my mother looked at him like an insect. A dangerous insect which must be squashed quickly.**_

"Well, Jack, it sounds like you're a good man to have around in a sticky spot…" Gwen smiles.

They all jump as a Bugler sounds the meal call right behind them.

"Why do they insist on always announcing dinner like a damn cavalry charge?" Gwen mutters.

"Shall we go dress, mother?" Ianto asks then calls over his shoulder "See you at dinner, Jack."

As they walk away Rhiannon scolds "Ianto, look at you... out in the sun with no hat. Honestly!"

The Countess exits with Rhiannon and Ianto, leaving Jack and Gwen alone on deck. "Son, do you have the slightest comprehension of what you're doing?"

"Not really."

"Well, you're about to go into the snake pit. I hope you're ready. What are you planning to wear?" she asks and Jack looks down at his clothes. Back up at her. He hadn't thought about that. Gwen sighs "I figured."

.

.

GWEN COOPER'S STATEROOM

Men's suits and jackets and formal wear are strewn all over the place. Gwen is having a fine time. Jack is dressed, except for his jacket, and Gwen is tying his bow tie.

"Don't feel bad about it. My husband still can't tie one of these damn things after 20 years. There you go." She picks up a jacket off the bed and hands it to him. Jack goes into the bathroom to put it on. Gwen starts picking up the stuff off the bed.

I gotta buy everything in three sizes 'cause I never know how much he's been eating while I'm away." She turns and sees him.

"My, my, my... you shine up like a new penny."

.

.

BOAT DECK / FIRST CLASS ENTRANCE - DUSK

A purple sky, shot with orange, in the west. Drifting strains of classic music. Jack walks along the deck. By Edwardian standards he looks badass. Dashing in his borrowed white-tie outfit, right down to his pearl studs.

A steward bows and smartly opens the door to the First Class Entrance. "Good evening, sir."

Jack plays the role smoothly. Nods with just the right degree of disdain.

Jack steps in and his breath is taken away by the splendour spread out before him. Overhead is the enormous glass dome, with a crystal chandelier at its centre. Sweeping down six stories is the First Class Grand Staircase, the epitome of the opulent naval architecture of the time.

And the people: the women in their floor length dresses, elaborate hairstyles and abundant jewellery... the gentlemen in evening dress, standing with one hand at the small of the back, talking quietly.

Jack descends to A deck. Several men nod a perfunctory greeting. He nods back, keeping it simple. He feels like a spy.

Lee comes down the stairs, with Rhiannon on his arm, covered in jewellery. They both walk right past Jack, neither one recognizing him. Lee nods at him, one gent to another. But Jack barely has time to be amused. Because just behind Lee and Rhiannon on the stairs is Ianto, a vision in red and black, his suit impeccable and hugging him like it was painted on, his hands sheathed in white gloves. Jack is hypnotized by his beauty.

Ianto approaches Jack who imitates the gentlemen's stance, hand behind his back. Ianto extends his gloved hand and he takes it, kissing the back of his fingers. Ianto flushes, beaming noticeably.

Jack can't take his eyes off him. "I saw that in a nickelodeon once, and I always wanted to do it."

"Lee, surely you remember Mr. Harkness."

Caught off guard Lee rears back "Harkness! I didn't recognize you. Amazing! You could almost pass for a gentleman."

The party descends to dinner. They encounter Gwen Cooper, looking good in a beaded dress, in her own busty broad-shouldered way. Gwen grins when she sees Jack. As they are going into the dining saloon she walks next to him, speaking low "Ain't nothin' to it, is there, Jack?"

"Yeah, you just dress like a pallbearer and keep your nose up."

"Remember, the only thing they respect is money, so just act like you've got a lot of it and you're in the club." She pats his shoulder.

As they enter the swirling throng, Ianto leans close to him, pointing out several notables. "There's the Countess Rothes. And that's John Jacob Astor... the richest man on the ship. His little wifey there, Madeleine, is my age and in a delicate condition. See how she's trying to hide it. Quite the scandal. (nodding toward a couple) And over there, that's Sir Cosmo and Lucile, Lady Duff-Gordon. She designs naughty lingerie, among her many talents. Very popular with the royals."

Lee becomes engrossed in a conversations with Cosmo Duff-Gordon and Colonel Gracie, while Rhiannon, the Countess and Lucille discuss fashion. Ianto picots Jack smoothly, to show him another couple, dressed impeccably.

"And that's Benjamin Guggenheim and his mistress, Madame Aubert. Mrs. Guggenheim is at home with the children, of course."

Lee, meanwhile, is accepting the praise of his male counterparts, who are looking at Ianto like a prize show horse.

"Hallett, he is splendid."

"Thank you." Lee preens happily.

"Lee's a lucky man. I know him well, and it can only be luck." Another huffs as Rhiannon steps over, hearing the last. She takes Lee's arm, somewhat coquettishly.

"How can you say that Colonel? Lisant Hallett is a great catch." She scolds and the entourage strolls toward the dining saloon, where they run into the Astor's going through the ornate double doors.

"J.J., Madeleine, I'd like you to meet Jack Harkness." Ianto smiles.

Shaking his hand, Astor nods "Good to meet you Jack. Are you of the Boston Harkness?"

"No, the Chippewa Falls Harkness, actually." Jack replies haughtily. J.J. nods as if he's heard of them, then looks puzzled.

Madeleine Astor appraises Jack and whispers girlishly to Ianto "It's a pity we're both spoken for, isn't it?"

Like a ballroom at the palace, alive and lit by a constellation of chandeliers, full of elegantly dressed people and beautiful music from HARTLEY'S small orchestra. As Ianto and Jack enter and move across the room to their table, Lee and Rhiannon beside them, we hear...

 _ **He must have been nervous but he never faltered. They assumed he was one of them... a young captain of industry perhaps... new money, obviously, but still a member of the club. Mother of course, could always be counted upon...**_

"Tell us of the accommodations in steerage, Mr. Harkness. I hear they're quite good on this ship." Rhiannon asks loudly as she looks triumphantly around the table.

Jack is seated opposite Ianto, who is flanked by Cal and Thomas Andrews. Also at the table are Gwen Cooper, Ismay, Colonel Gracie, the Countess, Guggenheim, Madame Aubert, and the Astors.

"The best I've seen, m'am. Hardly any rats."

Ianto motions surreptitiously for Jack to take his napkin off his plate.

Mr. Harkness is joining us from third class. He was of some assistance to my fiancée last night." Lee explains and then says to Jack, as if to a child "This is foie gras. It's goose liver."

We see whispers exchanged. Jack becomes the subject of furtive glances. Now they're all feeling terribly liberal and dangerous.

"What is he hoping to prove, bringing this... bohemian... up here?"

A waiter says to Jack "How do you take your caviar, sir?"

Answering for him, Lee barks "Just a soupcon of lemon... (to Jack, smiling) ...it improves the flavour with champagne."

Jack nods to the waiter "No caviar for me, thanks (to Lee) Never did like it much."

He looks at Ianto, pokerfaced, and she smiles.

"And where exactly do you live, Mr. Harkness?" Rhiannon chokes out.

"Well, right now my address is the RMS Titanic. After that, I'm on God's good humour."

Salad is served. Jack reaches for the fish fork. Ianto gives him a look and picks up the salad fork, prompting him with her eyes. He changes forks.

"You find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?" Rhiannon asks haughtily.

"Well... it's a big world, and I want to see it all before I go. My father was always talkin' about goin' to see the ocean. He died in the town he was born in, and never did see it. You can't wait around, because you never know what hand you're going to get dealt next. See, my folks died in a fire when I was fifteen, and I've been on the road since. Somethin' like that teaches you to take life as it comes at you. To make each day count."

Gwen Cooper raises her glass in a salute. "Well said, Jack."

"Here, here."

Ianto raises his glass, looking at Jack. "To making it count."

Rhiannon, annoyed that Jack has scored a point, presses him further. "How is it you have the means to travel, Mr. Harkness?"

"I work my way from place to place. Tramp steamers and such. I won my ticket on Titanic here in a lucky hand at poker." he glances at Ianto "A very lucky hand."

"All life is a game of luck." Gracie agrees.

"A real man makes his own luck, Archie." Lee replies. Ianto notices that Thomas Andrews, sitting next to him, is writing in his notebook, completely ignoring the conversation.

"Mr. Andrews, what are you doing? I see you everywhere writing in this little book." grabs it and reads "Increase number of screws in hat hooks from 2 to 3. You build the biggest ship in the world and this preoccupies you?!"

Andrews smiles sheepishly.

"He knows every rivet in her, don't you Thomas?" Ismay laughs.

"All three million of them" Andrews smiles back at who is obviously his lover.

"His blood and soul are in the ship. She may be mine on paper, but in the eyes of God she belongs to Thomas Andrews." Ismay nods.

"Your ship is a wonder, Mr. Andrews." Ianto gushes happily "Truly."

"Thank you, Ianto." We see that Andrews has come under Ianto's spell. "The wonder is sitting here with such good company this evening."

The entire table seems to sigh as Ianto blushes happily.


	6. Chapter 6

_**6**_

Dessert has been served and a waiter arrives with cigars. The men start clipping ends and lighting.

Ianto whispers low, to Jack "Next it'll be brandies in the Smoking Room."

Gracie is rising "Well, join me for a brandy, men?"

Ianto hisses in a low giggle "Now they retreat into a cloud of smoke and congratulate each other on being masters of the universe."

"Joining us, Harkness? You don't want to stay out here with the women and gentlefolk, do you?" Lee sneers.

Actually he does, but... "No thanks. I'm heading back."

"Probably best. It'll be all business and politics, that sort of thing. Wouldn't interest you. Good of you to come." Lee dismisses him. Lee and the other gentlemen exit.

"Jack, must you go?"

"Time for my coach to turn back into a pumpkin." He leans over to take Ianto's hand. He slips a tiny folded not into Ianto's palm.

Rhiannon, scowling, watches him walk away across the enormous room. Ianto covertly opens the note below table level. It reads: "Make it count. Meet me at the clock".

.

.

.

Ianto crosses the A-Deck foyer, sighting Jack at the landing above. Overhead is the crystal dome. Jack has his back to him, studying the ornate clock with its carved figures of Honour and Glory. It softly strikes the hour.

He turns, sees him... smiles.

"Want to go to a real party?"

.

.

.

.

THIRD CLASS GENERAL ROOM

Crowd loud and alive with music, laughter and raucous carrying on. An ad hoc band is gathered near the upright piano, honking out lively stomping music on fiddle, accordion and tambourine. People of all ages are dancing, drinking beer and wine, smoking, laughing, even brawling.

Tommy hands Ianto a pint of stout and he hoists it. Jack meanwhile dances with 5 year old Cora, or tries to, with her standing on his feet. As the tune ends, Ianto leans down to the little girl.

"May I cut in, miss?" Ianto asks and the little face twists with annoyance.

"You're still my best girl, Cora." Jack whispers as he kisses her cheek and she looks at Ianto with triumph as he holds his hands up in defeat. Cora scampers off. Ianto and Jack face each other. Ianto is trembling as Jack takes his right hand in his left. His other hand slides to the small of Ianto's back. It is an electrifying moment.

"I don't know the steps" Ianto admits.

"Just move with me. Don't think." Jack smiles reassuringly. The music starts and they are off. A little awkward at first, he starts to get into it. He grins at Jack as he starts to get the rhythm of the steps.

"Wait... stop!" he bends down, pulling off his smooth soled shoes, and flings them to Tommy. Then he grabs Jack and they plunge back into the fray, dancing faster as the music speeds up.

The scene is rowdy and rollicking. A table gets knocked over as a drunk crashes into it . And in the middle of it... Ianto dancing with Jack in his stocking feet. The steps are fast and he shines with sweat. A space opens around them, and people watch them, clapping as the band plays faster and faster.

Dancing has obviated the need for a common language as Owen and Tosh laugh. He whirls her, then she responds by whirling him... Owen's eyes go wide when he realizes she's stronger than he is.

The tune ends in a mad rush. Jack steps away from Ianto with a flourish, allowing him to take a bow. Exhilarated and slightly tipsy, he does a graceful ballet Plie, feet turned out perfectly. Everyone laughs and applauds. Ianto is a hit with the steerage folks, who've never had a Gentleman party with them.

They move to a table, flushed and sweaty. Ianto grabs Owen's cigarette and takes a big drag. he's feeling cocky. Owen is grinning, holding hands with Tosh.

"How you two doin'?"

"I don't know what she's saying when she gets excited, she don't know what I say with me cockney words, so we get along fine." Owen grins.

Owen walks up with a pint for each of them. Ianto chugs his, showing off. "You think a first class guy can't drink?"

Everybody else is dancing again, and Bjorn Gundersen crashes into Owen, who sloshes his beer over Ianto's shirt. He laughs, not caring. But Owen snarls, grabbing Bjorn and wheeling him around. "You stupid bastard!"

Bjorn comes around, his fists coming up... and Jack leaps into the middle of it, pushing them apart. "Boys, boys! Did I ever tell you the one about the Swede and the Cockney bastard goin' to the whorehouse?"

Owen stands there, all piss and vinegar, chest puffed up. Then he grins and claps Bjorn on the shoulder.

"So, you think you're big tough men? Let's see you do this." Ianto yells. In his stocking feet he assumes a ballet stance, arms raised, and goes up on point, taking his entire weight on the tips of his toes. The guys gape at his incredible muscle control. he comes back down, then his face screws up in pain. he grabs one foot, hopping around. "Oooowww! I haven't done that in years."

Jack catches him as he loses his balance, and everyone cracks up.

The door to the well deck is open a few inches as Hartman watches through the gap. He sees Jack holding Ianto, both of them laughing.

Hartman closes the door.

.

.

.

The stars blaze overhead, so bright and clear you can see the Milky Way. Ianto and Jack walk along the row of lifeboats. Still giddy from the party, they are singing a popular song "Come Josephine in My Flying Machine".

"Come Josephine in my flying machine

And it's up she goes! Up she goes!

In the air she goes. Where? There she goes!"

They fumble the words and break down laughing. They have reached the First Class Entrance, but don't go straight in, not wanting the evening to end. Through the doors the sound of the ship's orchestra wafts gently. Ianto grabs a davit and leans back, staring at the cosmos.

"Isn't it magnificent? So grand and endless." Ianto sighs as he goes to the rail and leans on it. "They're such small people, Jack... my crowd. They think they're giants on the earth, but they're not even dust in God's eye. They live inside this little tiny champagne bubble... and someday the bubble's going to burst."

Jack leans at the rail next to him, his hand just touching Ianto's. It is the slightest contact imaginable, and all either one of them can feel is that square inch of skin where their hands are touching.

"You're not one of them. There's been a mistake."

"A mistake?" Ianto cants his head.

"Uh huh. You got mailed to the wrong address." Jack nods calmly.

"I did, didn't I?" Ianto giggles pointing suddenly "Look! A shooting star."

"That was a long one. My father used to say that whenever you saw one, it was a soul going to heaven." Jack looks up as they stargaze.

"I like that. Aren't we supposed to wish on it?" Ianto wonders.

Jack looks at him, and finds that they are suddenly very close together. It would be so easy to move another couple of inches, to kiss him. Ianto seems to be thinking the same thing.

"What would you wish for?" Jack whispers.

After a beat, Ianto pulls back. "Something I can't have. Goodnight, Jack. And thank you."

he leaves the rail and hurries through the First Class Entrance.

"Ianto!" Jack calls out but the door bangs shut, and he is gone. Back to his world.

.

.

.

SUNDAY APRIL 14, 1912.

A bright clear day. Sunlight splashing across the promenade. Ianto and Lee are having breakfast in silence. The tension is palpable. Toshiko Sato, in her maid's uniform, pours the coffee and goes inside.

"I had hoped you would come to me last night." Lee says finally.

"I was tired."

"Yes. Your exertions below decks were no doubt exhausting." Lee sniffs.

Stiffening, Ianto hisses "I see you had that undertaker of a manservant follow me."

"You will never behave like that again! Do you understand?"

"I'm not some foreman in your mills than you can command! I am yourFiancée…"

Lee explodes, sweeping the breakfast china off the table with a crash. He moves to him in one shocking moment, glowering over him and gripping the sides of his chair, so he is trapped between his arms.

"Yes! You are! And my mate... in practice, if not yet by law. So you will honour me, as a mate is required to honour his husband! I will not be made out a fool! Is this in any way unclear?" he roars into Ianto's face. Ianto shrinks into the chair. He sees Toshiko, frozen, partway through the door bringing the orange juice. Lee follows Ianto's glance and straightens up. He stalks past the maid, entering the stateroom.

"We... had a little accident" Ianto shakily waves a hand "I'm sorry, Toshiko."

.

…

.

Ianto is dressed for the day, and is in the middle of helping Rhiannon with her corset. The tight bindings do not inhibit Rhiannon's fury at all. "You are not to see that boy again, do you understand me Ianto? I forbid it!"

Ianto has his knee at the base of his mother's back and is pulling the corset strings with both hands. "Oh, stop it, Mother. You'll give yourself a nosebleed."

Rhiannon pulls away from him and crosses to the door, locking it.

CLACK!

wheeling on him Rhiannon wails "Ianto, this is not a game! Our situation is precarious. You know the money's gone!"

"Of course I know it's gone. You remind me every day!"

"Your father left us nothing but a legacy of bad debts hidden by a good name. And that name is the only card we have to play."

Ianto turns him around and grabs the corset strings again. Rhiannon sucks in her waist and Ianto pulls.

"I don't understand you. It is a fine match with Hallett, and it will insure our survival." Rhiannon whines.

Ianto is hurt and lost as he sighs "How can you put this on my shoulders?"

Ianto turns to her, and we see what Ianto sees- the naked fear in his mother's eyes.

Do you want to see me working as a seamstress?" Rhiannon turns on the waterworks now as she collapses to the bed "Is that what you want? Do you want to see our fine things sold at an auction, our memories scattered to the winds? My God, Ianto, how can you be so selfish?"

"It's so unfair."

"Of course it's unfair! We're gentry. Our choices are never easy."

Ianto pulls the corset tighter.

What's this 'Our' crap anyay?


	7. Chapter 7

_**7**_

At the divine service, Captain Smith is leading a group in the hymn

"Almighty Father Strong To Save." Ianto and Rhiannon sing in the middle of the group.

Hartman stands well back, keeping an eye on Ianto. He notices a commotion at the entry doors. Jack has been halted there by two stewards. He is dressed in his third class clothes, and stands there, hat in hand, looking out of place.

"Look, you, you're not supposed to be in here." The steward growls.

"I was just here last night... don't you remember?" Jack frowns then seeing Hartman coming toward him gestures "He'll tell you."

"Mr. Hallett and Mr. Jones continue to be most appreciative of your assistance. They asked me to give you this in gratitude…"He holds out two twenty dollar bills, which Jack refuses to take.

"I don't want money, I…"

Hartman continues over him "…and also to remind you that you hold a third class ticket and your presence here is no longer appropriate."

Jack spots Ianto but he doesn't see him.

"I just need to talk to Ianto for a…"

"Gentlemen, please see that Mr. Harkness gets back where he belongs." Harman asks giving the twenties to the stewards "And that he stays there."

"Yes sir!"

"Come along you."

.

.

.

.

An Edwardian nautilus room. There are machines we recognize, and some don't. A woman pedals a stationary bicycle in a long dress, looking ridiculous. Thomas Andrews is leading a small tour group, including Ianto, Rhiannon and Lee. Lee is working the oars of a stationary rowing machine with a well trained stroke.

"Reminds me of my Harvard days." Lee grins.

T.W. McCauley, the gym instructor, is a bouncy little man in white flannels, eager to show off his modern equipment, like his present-day counterpart on an "Abflex" infomercial. He hits a switch and a machine with a saddle on it starts to undulate. Ianto puts his hand on it, curious.

"The electric horse is very popular. We even have an electric camel." He tells Ianto then turns to Rhiannon "Care to try your hand at the rowing, m'am?"

"Don't be absurd. I can't think of a skill I should likely need less." She laughs.

"The next stop on our tour will be bridge. This way, please."

.

.

.

Jack, walking with determination, is followed closely by Tommy and Owen. He quickly climbs the steps to B-Deck and steps over the gate separating 3rd from 2nd class.

"He's a god amongst mortal men, there's no denyin'. But he's in another world, Jackie, forget him. he's closed the door." Owen argues.

Jack moves furtively to the wall below the A-Deck promenade, aft.

"It was them, not him." Jack argues glancing around the deck "Ready... go."

Tommy shakes his head resignedly and puts his hands together, crouching down. Jack steps into Tommy's hands and gets boosted up to the next deck, where he scrambles nimbly over the railing, onto the First Class deck.

"He's not bein' logical, I tell ya." Tommy says.

"Love is not logical." Owen agrees.

.

..

.

A man is playing with his son, who is spinning a top with a string. The man's overcoat and hat are sitting on a deck chair nearby. Jack emerges from behind one of the huge deck cranes and calmly picks up the coat and bowler hat. He walks away, slipping into the coat, and slicks his hair back with spit. Then puts the hat on at a jaunty angle. At a distance he could pass for a gentlemen.

.

.

.

.

HAROLD BRIDE, the 21 year old Junior Wireless Operator, hustles in and skirts around Andrews' tour group to hand a Marconigram to Captain Smith. "Another ice warning, sir. This one from the "Baltic"."

"Thank you, Sparks." Smith glances at the message then nonchalantly puts it in his pocket. He nods reassuringly to Ianto and the group. "Not to worry, it's quite normal for this time of year. In fact, we're speeding up. I've just ordered the last boilers lit."

Andrews scowls slightly before motioning the group toward the door. They exit just as Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller comes out of the chartroom, stopping next to First Officer Murdoch. "Did we ever find those binoculars for the lookouts?"

"Haven't seen them since Southampton."

.

.

.

.

Andrews leads the group back from the bridge along the boat deck.

"Mr. Andrews, I did the sum in my head, and with the number of lifeboats times the capacity you mentioned... forgive me, but it seems that there are not enough for everyone aboard." Ianto says as he glances along the boats.

"About half, actually. Ianto, you miss nothing, do you? In fact, I put in these new type davits, which can take an extra row of boats here. " he gestures along the deck "But it was thought... by some... that the deck would look too cluttered. So I was over-ruled."

Slapping the side of a boat Lee scoffs "Waste of deck space as it is, on an unsinkable ship!"

"Sleep soundly, young Ianto. I have built you a good ship, strong and true. She's all the lifeboat you need." He assures her. As they are passing Boat 7, a gentlemen turns from the rail and walks up behind the group. It is Jack. He taps Ianto on the arm and he turns, gasping. He motions and he cuts away from the group toward a door which Jack holds open. They duck into the gymnasium.

Jack closes the door behind him, and glances out through the ripple-glass window to the starboard rail, where the gym instructor is chatting up the woman who was riding the bike. Ianto and Jack are alone in the room.

"Jack, this is impossible. I can't see you." Ianto argues as Jack takes him by the shoulders.

"Ianto, you're no picnic... you're a spoiled little brat even, but under that you're a strong, pure heart, and you're the most amazingly astounding guy I've ever known and…"

"Jack, I…"

"No wait. Let me try to get this out. You're amazing... and I know I have nothing to offer you, Ianto. I know that. But I'm involved now. You jump, I jump, remember? I can't turn away without knowin' that you're goin' to be alright." Jack says as he looks into Ianto's eyes.

Ianto feels the tears coming to his eyes. Jack is so open and real... not like anyone he has ever known. "You're making this very hard. I'll be fine. Really."

"I don't think so. They've got you in a glass jar like some butterfly, and you're goin' to die if you don't break out. Maybe not right away, 'cause you're strong. But sooner or later the fire in you is goin' to go out."

"It's not up to you to save me, Jack." Ianto tries to pull away half-heartedly.

"You're right. Only you can do that."

"I have to get back, they'll miss me. Please, Jack, for both our sakes, leave me alone." Ianto begs.

.

.

..

.

The most elegant room on the ship, done in Louis Quinze Versaille style. Ianto sits on a divan, with a group of other gentry arrayed around him. Rhiannon, the Countess Rothes and Lady Duff-Gordon are taking tea. Ianto is silent and still as a porcelain figurine as the conversation washes around him.

"Of course the invitations had to be sent back to the printers twice. And the bridesmaids dresses! Let me tell you what an odyssey that has been..." Rhiannon gushes.

Ianto is watching a Mother and Son having tea at the next table. The four year old boy, wearing white gloves, daintily picking up a cookie. The mother correcting him on his posture, and the way he holds the teacup. The little boy is trying so hard to please, his expression serious. A glimpse of Ianto at that age, and we see the relentless conditioning... the pain to becoming an Edwardian Gentry.

Ianto calmly and deliberately turns his teacup over, spilling tea all over his trousers. "Oh, look what I've done."

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.

.

.

The dusk light, as if lit by the embers of a giant fire. Jack is there, right at the apex of the bow railing, his favourite spot. He closes his eyes, letting the chill wind clear his head.

Jack hears a voice, behind him...

"Hello, Jack."

He turns and he is standing there.

"I changed my mind." Ianto shrugs.

Jack smiles at him, his eyes drinking him in. Ianto's cheeks are red with the chill wind, and his eyes sparkle. His hair blows wildly about his face.

"Owen said you might be up…"

"Sssshh. Come here." He puts his hands on Ianto's waist. As if he is going to kiss him "Close your eyes."

Ianto does, and he turns him to face forward, the way the ship is going. He presses him gently to the rail, standing right behind him. Then he takes his two hands and raises them until he is standing with his arms outstretched on each side. Ianto is going along with him. When he lowers his hands, his arms stay up... like wings.

"Okay. Open them."

Ianto gasps. There is nothing in his field of vision but water. It's like there is no ship under them at all, just the two of them soaring. The Atlantic unrolls toward him, a hammered copper shield under a dusk sky. There is only the wind, and the hiss of the water 50 feel below.

"I'm flying!"

He leans forward, arching his back. Jack puts his hands on his waist to steady him.

Jack starts singing softly "Come Josephine in my flying machine..."

Ianto closes his eyes, feeling himself floating weightless far above the sea. He smiles dreamily, then leans back, gently pressing his back against Jack's chest. Ianto pushes forward slightly against him.

Slowly Jack raises his hands, arms outstretched, and they meet Ianto's... fingertips gently touching. Then their fingers intertwine. Moving slowly, their fingers caress through and around each other like the bodies of two lovers.

Jack tips his face forward into Ianto's blowing hair, letting the scent of him wash over him, until his cheek is against Ianto's ear.

Ianto turns his head until his lips are near his. he lowers his arms, turning further, until he finds Jack's mouth with his. Jack wraps his arms around him from behind, and they kiss like this with Ianto's head turned and tilted back, surrendering to him, to the emotion, to the inevitable. They kiss, slowly and tremulously, and then with building passion.

Jack and the ship seem to merge into one force of power and optimism, lifting Ianto, buoying him forward on a magical journey, soaring onward into a night without fear.

In the crow's nest, high above and behind them, lookout Fred Fleet nudges his mate, Reg Leek, pointing down at the figures in the bow. "Wish I had those bleedin' binoculars."


	8. Chapter 8

_**8**_

Jack is overwhelmed by the opulence of the room Ianto has led him to. He sets his sketchbook and drawing materials on the marble table.

"Will this light do? Don't artists need good light?"

Jack answers in a bad French accent "Zat is true, I am not used to working in such 'orreeble conditions."

"Hey... Monet!" Jack gasps seeing the paintings. He crouches next to the paintings stacked against the wall. "Isn't he great... the use of colour? I saw him once... through a hole in this garden fence in Giverny."

Ianto goes into the adjoining walk-in wardrobe closet. Jack sees him go to the safe and start working the combination. He's fascinated.

"Lee insists on lugging this thing everywhere."

"Should I be expecting him anytime soon?' Jack asks.

"Not as long as the cigars and brandy hold out." Lee snorts. CLUNK! He unlocks the safe. Glancing up, he meets his eyes in the mirror behind the safe. He opens it and removes the pocket watch, then holds it out to Jack who takes it nervously.

"What is it?" Jack frowns "A watch?"

"Open it. It's a diamond inside." Ianto snorts, "So expensive. Like … thousands of dollars in one little watch."

Jack gazes at wealth beyond his comprehension.

"I want you to draw me like your French girl. Wearing this." he smiles at him "Wearing only this."

He looks up at her, surprised, "Where?"

Jack is laying out his pencils like surgical tools. His sketchbook is open and ready. He looks up as Ianto comes into the room, wearing a silk kimono.

"The last thing I need is another picture of me looking like a china doll. As a paying customer, I expect to get what I want." he hands him a dime and steps back, parting the kimono. The chain of the watch is wrapped around his cock and the watch face lies on his balls. His heart is pounding as he slowly lowers the robe.

Jack looks so stricken, it is almost comical. The kimono drops to the floor.

"Tell me when it looks right to you." he poses on the divan, settling like a cat into the position most comfortable.

"Uh... just bend your left leg a little and... and lower your head. Eyes to me. That's it." Jack starts to sketch. He drops his pencil and Ianto stifles a laugh.

"I believe you are blushing, Mr. Big Artiste. I can't imagine Monsieur Monet blushing."

"He does landscapes." Jack snorts.

Despite his nervousness, Jack draws with sure strokes, and what emerges is the best thing he has ever done. Ianto's pose is languid, his hands beautiful, and his eyes radiate his energy.

.

.

.

Jack is signing the drawing. Ianto, wearing his kimono again, is leaning on his shoulder, watching.

Ianto gazes at the drawing. He has X-rayed his soul. "Date it, Jack. I want to always remember this night."

He does: 4/14/1912. Ianto meanwhile scribbles a note on a piece of Titanic stationary. Jack didn't see what it says. Ianto accepts the drawing from him, and crosses to the safe in the wardrobe.

He puts the watch back in the safe, placing the drawing and the note on top of it. Closes the door with a CLUNK!

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.

.

Hartman enters from the Palm Court through the revolving door and crosses the room toward Hallett. A fire is blazing in the marble fireplace, and the usual fat cats are playing cards, drinking and talking. Lee sees Hartman and detaches from his group, coming to him.

"None of the stewards have seen him."

Low but forceful Lee snarls "This is ridiculous, Hartman. Find him."

.

.

..

TITANIC glides across an unnatural sea, black and calm as a pool of oil. The ships lights are mirrored almost perfectly in the black water. The sky is brilliant with stars. A meteor traces a bright line across the heavens.

Captain Smith peers out at the blackness ahead of the ship. A man brings him a cup of hot tea with lemon. It steams in the bitter cold of the open bridge. Second Officer Lightoller is next to him, staring out at the sheet of black glass the Atlantic has become.

"I don't think I've ever seen such a flat calm, in 24 years at sea." Lightoller says softly.

"Yes, like a mill pond. Not a breath of wind." Smith agrees.

"It's make the bergs harder to see, with no breaking water at the base." Lightoller points out and the Captain glances at him.

"Mmmmm. Well, I'm off. Maintain speed and heading, Mr. Lightoller."

"Yes sir." Lightoller grimaces as he hears the annoyance in his Captain's voice for tempting the gods.

"And wake me, of course, if anything becomes in the slightest degree doubtful."

.

…

.

Ianto, fully dressed now, returns to the sitting room. They hear a key in the lock. Ianto takes Jack's hand and leads him silently through the bedrooms.

Hartman enters by the sitting room door. "Master Ianto? Hello?"

He hears a door opening and goes through Lee's room toward Ianto's.

Ianto and Jack come out of the stateroom, closing the door. Ianto leads him quickly along the corridor toward the B deck foyer. They are halfway across the open space when the sitting room door opens in the corridor and Hartman comes out. The valet sees Jack with Ianto and hustles after them.

"Come on!" Ianto calls as he and Jack break into a run, surprising the few ladies and gentlemen about. Ianto leads him past the stairs to the bank of elevators. They run into one, shocking the hell out of the operator.

Ianto speaks with authority "Take us down. Quickly, quickly!"

The Operator scrambles to comply. Jack even helps him close the steel gate. Hartman runs up as the lift starts to descend. He slams one hand on the bars of the gate. Ianto makes a very rude and un-gentlemanly gesture, and laughs as Hartman disappears above. The Operator gapes at him.

Hartman emerges from another lift and runs to the one Jack and Ianto were in. The Operator is just closing the gate to go back up. Hartman runs around the bank of elevators and scans the foyer... no Jack and Ianto. He tries the stairs going down to F-Deck.

F-Deck. A functional space, with access to a number of machine spaces (fan rooms, boiler uptakes). Jack and Ianto are leaning against a wall, laughing.

"Pretty tough for a valet, this fella" Jack pants.

"He's an ex-Pinkerton." Ianto gasps "Lee's father hired him to keep Lee out of trouble...to make sure he always got back to the hotel with his wallet and watch, after some crawl through the less reputable parts of town..."

"Kinda like we're doin' right now- uh oh!" Jack snorts, then Hartman has spotted them from a cross-corridor nearby. He charges toward them. Jack and Ianto run around a corner into a blind alley. There is one door, marked CREW ONLY, and Jack flings it open.

They enter a roaring RAN ROOM, with no way out but a ladder going down. Jack latches the grating on the door, and Hartman slams against it a moment later.

Jack grins at Ianto, pointing to the ladder. "After you, m'lord."

Jack and Ianto come down the escape ladder and look around in amazement. It is like a vision of hell itself, with the roaring furnaces and black figures moving in the smoky glow. They run the length of the boiler room, dodging amazed stokers, and trimmers with their wheelbarrows of coal.

Jack is shouting over the din "Carry on! Don't mind us!"

They run through the open watertight door into BOILER ROOM SIX. Jack pulls Ianto through the fiercely hot alley between two boilers and they wind up in the dark, out of sight of the working crew. Watching from the shadows, they see the stokers working in the hellish glow, shovelling coal into the insatiable maws of the furnaces. The whole place thunders with the roar of the fires.

.

.

.

Amid unparallel luxury, Lee sits at a card game, sipping brandy.

"We're going like hell I tell you. I have fifty dollars that says we make it into New York Tuesday night!" Gracie says with authority.

Lee looks at his gold pocket watch, and scowls, not listening.

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.

.

The furnaces roar, silhouetting the glistening stokers. Jack kisses Ianto's face, tasting the sweat trickling down from his forehead. They kiss passionately in the steamy, pounding darkness.

Jack and Ianto enter the cargo hold and run laughing between the rows of stacked cargo. Ianto hugs himself against the cold, after the dripping heat of the boiler room.

They come upon William Carter's brand new RENAULT touring car, lashing down to a pallet. It looks like a royal coach from a fairy tale, its brass trim and headlamps nicely set off by its deep burgundy colour.

Ianto climbs into the plushly upholstered back seat, acting very royal. There are cut crystals bud vases on the walls back there, each containing a Ianto. Jack jumps into the driver's seat, enjoying the feel of the leather and wood.

"Where to, Mister?" he calls.

"To the stars."

Ianto's hands come out of the shadows and pull him over the seat into the back. Jack lands next to him, and his breath seems loud in the quiet darkness. He looks at him and he is smiling. It is the moment of truth.

"Are you nervous?" Jack asks.

"Au contraire, mon cher." Ianto purrs as Jack strokes his face, cherishing him. He kisses his artist's fingers.

"Put your hands on me Jack."

Jack kisses him, and he slides down in the seat under his welcome weight.

The rear window of the Renault is completely fogged up. Ianto's hand comes up and slams against the glass for a moment, making a handprint in the veil of condensation.

Jack's overcoat is like a blanket over them. It stirs and Ianto pulls it down. They are huddled under it, intertwined, still mostly clothed. Their faces are flushed and they look at each other wonderingly.

Ianto puts his hand on Jack's face, as if making sure he is real.

"You're trembling." Ianto whispers.

"It's okay. I'm alright." Jack lays his cheek against Ianto's chest. "I can feel your heart beating."

Ianto hugs his head to his chest, and just holds on for dear life.


	9. Chapter 9

_**9**_

lookouts Fleet and Leek are the crow's nest. They are stamping their feet and swinging their arms, trying to keep warm in the 22 knot freezing wind, which whips the steam of their breath away behind.

"You can smell ice, you know, when it's near." Fleet says.

"Bollocks." Leek snorts.

"Well I can."

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.

.

Lee stands at the open safe. He stares at the drawing of Ianto and his face clenches with fury. He reads the not again: "DARLING, NOW YOU CAN KEEP US BOTH LOCKED IN YOUR SAFE, IANTO".

Hartman, standing behind him, looks over his shoulder at the drawing. Lee crumples Ianto's note, then takes the drawing in both hands as if to rip it in half. He tenses to do it, then stops himself.

"I have a better idea."

.

.

..

The two stewards enter. They have electric torches and play the beams around the hold. They spot the Renault with its fogged up rear window and approach it slowly.

The torch lights up Ianto's passionate handprint, still there on the fogged up glass. One steward whips open the door.

"Got yer!"

The back seat is empty.

.

.

.

.

Ianto and Jack, fully dressed, come through a crew door onto the deck. They can barely stand, they are laughing so hard.

lookout Fleet hears the disturbance below and looks around and back down to the well deck, where he can see two figures embracing.

Jack and Ianto stand in each other's arms. Their breath clouds around them in the now freezing air, but they don't even feel the cold.

"When this ship docks, I'm getting off with you." Ianto says forcefully.

"This is crazy." Jack laughs.

Ianto nods "I know. It doesn't make any sense. That's why I trust it."

Jack pulls Ianto to him and kisses him fiercely.

Fleet nudges Leek. "Cor... look at that, would ya."

"They're a bloody sight warmer than we are." Leek grumbles.

"Well if that's what it takes for us two to get warm, I'd rather not, if it's all the same."

They both have a good laugh at that one. It is Fleet whose expression falls first. Glancing forward again, he does a double take. The colour drains out of his face.

A massive iceberg right in their path, 500 yards out.

"Bugger me!" Fleet reaches past Lee and rings the lookout bell three times, then grabs the telephone, calling the bridge. He waits precious seconds for it to be picked up, never taking his eyes off the black mass ahead. "Pick up, ya bastard."

Inside the enclosed wheelhouse, Sixth Officer Moody walks unhurriedly to the telephone, picking it up.

Fleet yells "Is someone there?"

"Yes. What do you see?"

"Iceberg right ahead!"

"Thank you." Moody says then hangs up, calls to Murdoch "Iceberg right ahead!"

Murdoch sees it and rushes to the engine room telegraph. While signalling "FULL SPEED ASTERN" he yells to Quartermaster Hitchins, who is at the wheel.

"Hard a' starboard."

standing behind Hitchins Moody yells "Hard'a starboard. The helm is hard over, sir."

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.

.

Chief Engineer BellL is just checking the soup he has warming on a steam manifold when the engine telegraph clangs, then goes... incredibly... to FULL SPEED ASTERN. He and the other Engineers just stare at it a second, unbelieving. Then Bell reacts.

"Full astern! FULL ASTERN!"

The engineers and greasers like madmen to close steam valves and start braking the mighty propeller shafts, big as elephants, to a stop.

In Boiler Room Six, Leading Stoker Fred Barrett is standing with 2nd Engineer James Hesketh when the red warning light and "STOP" indicator come on.

"Shut all dampers! Shut 'em!"

Murdoch watches the burg growing... straight ahead. The bow finally starts to come left (since the ship turns the reverse of the helm setting). His jaw clenches as the bow turns with agonizing slowness. He holds his breath as the horrible physics play out.

Fred Fleet braces himself.

KRUUUNCH!

The ship hits the berg on its starboard bow.

The ice is smashing in the steel hull plates. The iceberg bumps and scrapes along the side of the ship. Rivets pop as the steel plate of the hull flexes under the load.

In #2 Hold the two stewards stagger as the hull buckles in four feet with a sound like THUNDER. Like a sledgehammer beating along outside the ship, the berg splits the hull plates and the sea pour in, sweeping them off their feet. The icy water swirls around the Renault as the men scramble for the stairs.

ON G-DECK forward Owen is tossed in his bunk by the impact. He hears a sound like the greatly amplified squeal of a skate on ice.

In Boiler Room Six Barret and Hesketh stagger as they hear the rolling thunder of the collision. They see the starboard side of the ship buckle in toward them and are almost swept off their feet by a rush of water coming in about two feet above the floor.

Jack and Ianto break their kiss and look up in astonishment as the berg sails past, blocking out the sky like a mountain. Fragments break off it and crash down onto the deck, and they have to jump back to avoid flying chunks of ice.

Murdoch rings the watertight door alarm. He quickly throws the switch that closes them. "Hard a 'port!"

Judging the berg to be amidships, he is trying to clear the stern.

Barrett and Hesketh hear the door alarm and scramble through the swirling water to the watertight door between Boiler Rooms 6 and 5. The room is full of water vapour as the cold sea strikes the red hot furnaces. Barrett yells to the stokers scrambling through the door as it comes down like a slow guillotine.

"Go Lads! Go! Go!"

He dives through into Boiler Room 5 just before the door rumbles down with a CLANG.

Jack and Ianto rush to the starboard rail in time to see the berg moving aft down the side of the ship.

In his stateroom, surrounded by piles of plans while making notes in his ever-present book, Andrews looks up at the sound of a cut-crystal light fixture tinkling like a wind chime.

He feels the shudder run through the ship. And we see it in his face. Too much of his soul is in this great ship for him not to feel its mortal wound.

Gracie watches his highball vibrating on the table.

Gwen Cooper holds up her drink to a passing waiter. "Hey, can I get some ice here, please?"

Silently, a moving wall of ice fills the window behind her. She doesn't see it. It disappears astern.

Fleet turns to Leek...

"Oy, mate... that was a close shave."

"Smell ice, can you?" Leek laughs nervously "Bleedin' Christ!"

The alarm bells on the bridge still clatter mindlessly, seeming to reflect Murdock's inner state. He is in shock, unable to get a grip on what just happened. He just ran the biggest ship in history into an iceberg on its maiden voyage. He barks stiffly, to Moody "Note the time. Enter it in the log."

Captain Smith rushes out of his cabin onto the bridge, tucking in his shirt. "What was that, Mr. Murdoch?"

"An iceberg, sir. I put her hard a' starboard and run the engines full astern, but it was too close. I tried to port around it, but she hit... and I…"

"Close the emergency doors."

"The doors are closed."

Together they rush out onto the starboard wing, and Murdoch points. Smith looks into the darkness aft, then wheels around to Bohall "Find the Carpenter and get him to sound the ship."

In steerage, Owen comes out into the hall to see what's going on. He sees dozens of rats running toward him in the corridor, fleeing the flooding bow. Owen jumps aside as the rats run by. "Fuck me!"

Tommy gets out of his top bunk in the dark and drops down to the floor. SPLASH! "Cor! What in hell-?!"

He snaps on the light. The floor is covered with 3 inches of freezing water, and more coming in. He pulls the door open, and steps out into the corridor, which is flooded. Owen is running toward him, yelling something. Tommy and Owen start pounding on doors, getting everybody up and out. The alarm spreads in several languages.

A couple of people in first class have come out into the corridor in robes and slippers. A Steward hurries along, reassuring them.

"Why have the engines stopped?" a woman whimpers "I felt a shudder?"

"I shouldn't worry, m'am." He replies "We've likely thrown a propeller blade, that's the shudder you felt. May I bring you anything?"

Thomas Andrews brushes past them, walking fast and carrying an armload of rolled up ship's plans.

Jack and Ianto are leaning over the starboard rail, looking at the hull of the ship.

"Looks okay. I don't see anything." Jack reassures Ianto.

"Could it have damaged the ship?"

"It didn't seem like much of a bump. I'm sure we're okay." Jack shrugs as behind them a couple of steerage guys are kicking the ice around the deck, laughing.

Owen and Tommy are in a crowd of steerage men clogging the corridors, heading aft away from the flooding. Many of them have grabbed suitcases and duffel bags, some of which are soaked.

"If this is the direction the rats were runnin', it's good enough for me." Owen mutters.

Bruce Ismay, dressed in pajamas under the topcoat, hurries down the corridor, headed for the bridge. An officious steward named BARNES comes along the other direction, getting the few concerned passengers back into their rooms.

"There's no cause for alarm." Barnes is repeating calmly, "Please, go back to your rooms."

He is stopped in his tracks by Lee and Hartman.

"Please, sir. There's no emergency…"

"Yes there is, I have been robbed." Lee snarls "Now get the Master at Arms. Now you moron!"


	10. Chapter 10

_**10**_

Captain Smith studying the commutator.

He turns to Andrews, standing behind him.

"A five degree list in less than ten minutes." Smith barks.

Ships Carpenter John Hutchinson enters behind him, out of breath and clearly unnerved. "She's making water fast... in the forepeak tank and the forward holds, in boiler room six."

Ismay enters, his movements quick with anger and frustration. Smith glances at him with annoyance. "Why have we stopped?"

"We've struck ice."

"Well, do you think the ship is seriously damaged? Ismay demands.

"Excuse me." Smith is glaring at him. Smith pushes past him, with Andrews and Hutchinson in tow.

.

..

.

In the boiler room Stokers and firemen are struggling to draw the fires. They are working in waist deep water churning around as it flows into the boiler room, ice cold and swirling with grease from the machinery. Chief Engineer Bell comes partway down the ladder and shouts. "That's it, lads. Get the hell up!"

They scramble up the escape ladders.

.

.

.

The gentlemen, now joined by another man, leans on the forward rail watching the steerage men playing soccer with chunks of ice.

"I guess it's nothing too serious. I'm going back to my cabin to read."

A 20ish Yale Man pops through the door wearing a topcoat over pyjamas. "Say, did I miss the fun?"

Ianto and Jack come up the steps from the well deck, which are right next to the three men. They stare as the couple climbs over the locked gate.

A moment later Captain Smith rounds the corner, followed by Andrews and Carpenter Hutchinson. They have come down from the bridge by the outside stairs. The three men, their faces grim, crush right past Jack and Ianto. Andrews barely glances at him.

"Can you shore up?" Smith asks.

"Not unless the pumps get ahead."

The inspection party goes down the stairs to the well deck.

Jack hisses low, to Ianto "It's bad."

"We have to tell Mother and Lee." Ianto says firmly.

"Now it's worse."

"Come with me, Jack. I jump, you jump... Right?"

"Right."

Jack follows Ianto through the door inside the ship.

.

..

.

Jack and Ianto cross the foyer, entering the corridor. Hartman is waiting for them in the hall as they approach the room. "We've been looking for you master."

Hartman follows and, unseen, moves close behind Jack and smoothly slips the pocket watch into the pocket of his overcoat.

Lee and Rhiannon wait in the sitting room, along with the Master at Arms and two stewards (Steward #1 and Barnes). Silence as Ianto and Jack enter. Rhiannon closes her robe at her throat when she sees Jack.

"Something serious has happened." Ianto begins to speak.

"That's right. Two things dear to me have disappeared this evening. Now that one is back..." Lee looks from Ianto to Jack "... I have a pretty good idea where to find the other."

He barks to Master at Arms "Search him."

The Master at Arms steps up to Jack. "Coat off, mate."

Hartman pulls at Jack's coat and Jack shakes his head in dismay, shrugging out of it. The Master at Arms pats him down.

"This is horseshit." Jack spits.

"Lee, you can't be serious! We're in the middle of an emergency and you—"

Steward Barnes pulls the pocket watch out of the pocket of Jack's coat. "Is this it?"

Ianto is stunned. Needless to say, so is Jack.

"That's it."

"Right then. Now don't make a fuss." He starts to handcuff Jack.

"Don't you believe it, Ianto. Don't!" Jack shakes his head as he tries to work out what is happening.

"He couldn't have." Ianto says with confusion.

"Of course he could. Easy enough for a professional. He memorized the combination when you opened the safe."

"But I was with him the whole time."

Lee snarls just to Ianto, low and cold "Maybe he did it while you were putting your clothes back on."

"They put it in my pocket!" Jack knows now.

Holding Jack's coat Hartman calls out "It's not even your pocket, son. Property of A. L. Ryerson."

Hartman shows the coat to the Master at Arms. There is a label inside the collar with the owner's name.

"That was reported stolen today."

"I was going to return it!" Jack argues "Ianto…"

Ianto feels utterly betrayed, hurt and confused. He shrinks away from him. Jack starts shouting to him as Hartman and the Master at Arms drag him out into the hall. Ianto can't look him in the eye.

"Ianto, don't listen to them... I didn't do this! You know I didn't! You know it!"

Ianto is devastated. His mother lays a comforting hand on his shoulder as the tears well up. "Why do we believe men?"

From inside the sitting room they can hear knocking and voices in the corridor.

"I had better go dress." Rhiannon exits and Hallett crosses to Ianto.

Lee regards him coldly for a moment, then SLAPS Ianto across the face. "It is a little slut, isn't it?"

To Ianto the blow is inconsequential compared to the blow his heart has been given. Lee grabs his shoulders roughly. "Look at me, you little…"

There is a loud knock on the door and an urgent voice. The door opens and their steward puts his head in. "Sir, I've been told to ask you to please put on your lifebelt, and come up to the boat deck."

"Get out. We're busy."

The steward persists, coming in to get the lifebelts down from the top of a dresser. "I'm sorry about the inconvenience, Mr. Hallett, but it's Captain's orders. Please dress warmly, it's quite cold tonight (he hands a lifebelt to Ianto) Not to worry, sir, I'm sure it's just a precaution."

"This is ridiculous." Lee blusters.

In the corridor outside the stewards are being so polite and obsequious they are conveying no sense of danger whatsoever.

Up n the Boat Deck Thomas Andrews looks around in amazement. The deck is empty except for the crew fumbling with the davits. He yells over the roar of the steam to First Officer Murdoch. "Where are all the passengers?"

"They've all gone back inside. Too damn cold and noisy for them."

Andrews feels like he is in a bad dream. He looks at his pocket watch and heads for the foyer entrance.

A large number of First Class passengers have gathered near the staircase. They are getting indignant about the confusion. Gwen Cooper snags a passing steward. "What's doing, sonny? You've got us all trussed up and now we're cooling our heels."

The young steward backs away, actually stumbling on the stairs. "Sorry, mum. Let me go and find out."

The jumpy piano rhythm of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" comes out of the first class lounge a few yards away. Band leader Wallace Hartley has assembled some of his men on Captain's orders, to allay panic.

Hallett's entourage comes up to the A-deck foyer. Lee is carrying the lifebelts, almost as an afterthought. Ianto is like a sleepwalker. "It's just the God damned English doing everything by the book."

Rhiannon bristles "There's no need for language, Mr. Hallett."

Rhiannon turns to Toshiko "Go back and turn the heater on in my room, so it won't be too cold when we get back."

Thomas Andrews enters, looking around the magnificent room, which he knows is doomed. Ianto, standing nearby, sees his heartbroken expression. he walks over to him and Lee goes after him.

"I saw the iceberg, Mr. Andrews. And I see it in your eyes. Please tell me the truth" Ianto begs.

"The ship will sink."

"You're certain?"

"Yes. In an hour or so... all this... will be at the bottom of the Atlantic." Andrews waves a hand.

"My God." Lee gapes. Now it is his turn to look stunned. The Titanic? Sinking?

"Please tell only who you must, I don't want to be responsible for a panic." Andrews grabs Ianto's' hands "And get to a boat quickly. Don't wait. You remember what I told you about the boats?"

"Yes, I understand. Thank you."

Andrews goes off, moving among the passengers and urging them to put on their lifebelts and get to the boats.

.

.

.

.

Hartman and the Master at Arms are handcuffing Jack to a 4" Water Pipe as a crewman rushes in anxiously and almost blurts to the Master at Arms You're wanted by the Purser, sir. Urgently."

"Go on. I'll keep an eye on him." Hartman pulls a pearl handled Colt .45 automatic from under his coat. The Master at Arms nods and tosses the handcuff key to Hartman, then exits with the crewman. Hartman flips the key in the air. Catches it.

Jack feels his stomach flop.


	11. Chapter 11

_**11**_

Lightoller has his boats swung out. He is standing amidst a crowd of uncertain passengers in all states of dress and undress. One first class woman is barefoot. Others are in stockings. The maitre of the restaurant is in top hat and overcoat. Others are still in evening dress, while some are in bathrobes and kimonos. Women are wearing lifebelts over velvet gowns, then topping it with sable stoles. Some brought jewels, others books, even small dogs.

Lightoller sees Smith walking stiffly toward him and quickly goes to him. He yells into the Captain's ear, through cupped hands, over the roar of the steam Hadn't we better get the women and children into the boats, sir?"

Smith just nods, a bit abstractly. The fire has gone out of him. Lightoller sees the awesome truth in Smith's face. "Right! Start the loading. Women and children!"

The appalling din of escaping steam abruptly cuts off, leaving a sudden unearthly silence in which Lightoller's voice echoes. "Ladies, please. Step into the boat."

Finally one woman steps across the gap, into the boat, terrified of the drop to the water far below.

"You watch." Someone cries "They'll put us off in these silly little boats to freeze, and we'll all be back on board by breakfast."

Lee, Ianto and Rhiannon come out of the doors near the band.

"My brooch, I left my brooch. I must have it!" Rhiannon gasps and she turns back to go to her room but Lee takes her by the arm, refusing to let her go. The firmness of his hold surprises her.

"Stay here, Rhiannon."

Rhiannon sees his expression, and knows fear for the first time.

It is chaos, with stewards pushing their way through narrow corridors clogged with people carrying suitcases, duffel bags, children. Some have lifebelts on, others don't.

"I told the stupid sods no luggage. Aw, bloody hell!" a steward moans. He throws up his hand at the sight of a family, loaded down with cases and bags, completely blocking the corridor.

Owen and Tommy push past the stewards, going the other way. They reach a huge crowd gathered at the bottom of the stairwell.

Tommy pushes to where he can see what's holding up the group. There is a steel gate across the top of the stairs, with several stewards and seamen on the other side.

"Stay calm, please. It's not time to go up to the boats yet."

.

.

.

Boat 7 is less than half full, with 28 aboard a boat made for 65.

"Lower away! By the left and right together, steady lads!"

The boat lurches as the falls start to pay out through the pulley blocks. The women gasp. The boat descends, swaying and jerking, toward the water 60 feet below. The passengers are terrified.

.

.

.

.

The rows of portholes are angling down into the water. Under the surface, they glow green. Jack is looking apprehensively at the water rising up the glass.

Jack sits chained to the water pipe, next to the porthole. Hartman sits on the edge of a desk. He puts a .45 bullet on the desk and watches it roll across and fall off. He picks up the bullet.

"You know... I believe this ship may sink." Hartman says as he crosses to Jack "I've been asked to give you this small token of our appreciation..."

He punches Jack hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"Compliments of Mr. Lisant Hallett."

Hartman flips the handcuff key in the air, catches it and puts it in his pocket. He exits. Jack is left gasping, handcuffed to the pipe.

.

.

..

At the stairwell rail on the bridge wing, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Quartermaster Rowe light the first distress rocket. It shoots into the sky and EXPLODES with a thunderclap over the ship, sending out white starbursts which light up the entire deck as they fall.

"There is no time to waste!" Ismay shouts "Lower away! Lower away! Lower away!"

Second Officer Lightoller is loading the boat nearest Lee and Ianto... Boat 6. "Gentry and children only! Sorry sir, no men yet."

Another rocket bursts overhead, lighting the crowd. Startled faces turn upward. Fear now in the eyes.

Ianto watches the farewells taking pace right in front of him as they step closer to the boat. Husbands saying goodbye to wives or mates and children. Lovers and friends parted. Nearby Gwen is getting a reluctant woman to board the boat. "Come on, you heard the man. Get in the boat, sister."

"Will the lifeboats be seated according to class? I hope they're not too crowded…" Rhiannon whimpers.

"Oh, Mother shut up!" Ianto snarls. Rhiannon freezes, mouth open as Ianto scolds "Don't you understand? The water is freezing and there aren't enough boats... not enough by half. Half the people on this ship are going to die."

"Not the better half." Lee huffs and it hits Ianto like a thunderbolt. Jack is third class. He doesn't stand a chance. Another rocket bursts overhead, bathing his face in white light.

"You unimaginable bastard."

"Come on, Rhiannon, get in the boat. These are the first class seats right up here. That's it." Gwen practically hands her over to Lightoller, then looks around for some other women or gentry who might need a push. "Come on, Ianto. You're next, darlin'."

Ianto steps back, shaking his head.

"Ianto, get in the boat!" Rhiannon snaps.

"Goodbye, mother."

Rhiannon, standing in the tippy lifeboat, can do nothing. Lee grabs Ianto's arm but he pulls free and walks away through the crowd. Lee catches up to Ianto and grabs him again, roughly. "Where are you going? To him? Is that it? To be a whore to that gutter rat?"

"I'd rather be his whore than your mate."

Lee clenches his jaw and squeezes Ianto's arm viciously, pulling him back toward the lifeboat. Ianto pulls out his tie pin and jabs him with it. He lets go with a curse and Ianto runs into the crowd.

"Lower away!"

"Ianto!" Rhiannons screams "IANTO!"

"Stuff a sock in it, would ya, Rhiannon. He'll be along." Gwen roars then the boat lurches downward as the falls are paid out.

Ianto runs through the clusters of people. He looks back and a furious Lee is coming after him. He runs breathlessly up to two proper looking men. "That man tried to take advantage of me in the crowd!"

Appalled, they turn to see Lee running toward them. Ianto runs on as the two men grab Lee, restraining him. Ianto runs through the First Class entrance.

Lee breaks free and runs after him. He reaches the entrance, but runs into a knot of people coming out. He pushes rudely through them...Lee runs inside, and down to the landing, pushing past the gentlemen and ladies who are filling up the stairs. He scans the A-deck foyer.

Ianto is gone.

.

.

.

"Ain't you boys ever rowed before? Here, gimme those oars. I'll show ya how it's done." Gwen demands as she climbs over Rhiannon to get at the oars, stepping on her feet.

Around them the evacuation is in full swing, with boats in the water, others being lowered.

.

.

.

Jack pulls on the pipe with all his strength. It's not budging. He hears gurgling sound. Water pours under the door, spreading rapidly across the floor.

"Shit."

He tries to pull one hand out of the cuffs, working until the skin is raw... no good.

"Help! Somebody! Can anybody hear me?!" Jack yells and then mutters to himself "This could be bad."

Outside is deserted. Flooded a couple of inches deep. Jack's voice comes faintly through the door, but there is no one to hear it.

.

.

.

.

Thomas Andrews is opening stateroom doors of First Class, checking that people are out. "Anyone in here?"

Ianto runs up to him, breathless. "Mr. Andrews, thank God! Where would the Master at Arms take someone under arrest?!"

"What? You have to get to a boat right away!"

"No! I'll do this with or without your help, sir. But without will take longer."

Andrews considers, and then sighs "Take the elevator to the very bottom, go left, down the crewman's passage, then make a right."

"Bottom, left, right. I have it." Ianto nods, "Edidic memory, me."

"Hurry, Ianto."

Ianto runs up as the last Elevator Operator is closing up his lift to leave. "Sorry, master, lifts are closed…"

Without thinking Ianto grabs him and shoves him back into the lift. "I'm through with being polite, goddamnit! I may never be polite the rest of my life! Now take me down!"

The operator fumbles to close the gate and start the lift.

.

.

.

Gwen and the two seamen are rowing, and they've made it a hundred feet or so. Enough to see that the ship is angled down into the water, with the bow rail less than ten feet above the surface.

"Come on girls, join in, it'll keep ya warm. Let's go Rhiannon. Grab an oar!" Gwen yells but Rhiannon just stares at the spectacle of the great liner, its rows of lights blazing, slanting down into the sullen black mirror of the Atlanic.

.

.

.

Through the wrought iron door of the elevator car Ianto can see the decks going past. The lift slows. Suddenly ice water is swirling around his legs. He screams in surprise. So does the operator.

The car has landed in a foot of freezing water, shocking the hell out of him. He claws the door open and splashes out. The lift goes back up, behind him, as he looks around.

"Left, crew passage."

he spots it and slogs down the flooded corridor. The place is understandably deserted. he is on his own.

"Right, right... right."

He turns into a cross-corridor, splashing down the hall. A row of doors on each side.

"Jack? Jaaacckk?"


	12. Chapter 12

_**12**_

Jack is hopelessly pulling on the pipe again, straining until he turns red. He collapses back on the bench. realizing he's screwed. Then he hears Ianto through the door.

"IANTO! In here!"

Ianto hears his voice behind him. he spins and runs back, locating the right door, then pushes it open, creating a small wave.

he splashes over Jack and puts his arms around him. "Jack, Jack, Jack... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

They are so happy to see each other it's embarrassing.

"That guy Hartman put it in my pocket."

"I know, I know."

"See if you can find a key for these. Try those drawers. It's a little brass one."

Ianto kisses his face and hugs him again, then starts to go through the desk.

"So... how did you find out I didn't do it?"

"I didn't." Ianto says as he looks at him "I just realized I already knew."

They share a look, then he goes back to ransacking the room, searching drawers and cupboards. Jack sees movement out the porthole and looks out.

A Lifeboat hits the surface of the water, seen from below.

Ianto stops trashing the room, and stands there, breathing hard. "There's no key in here."

They look around at the water, now almost two feet deep. Jack has pulled his feet up onto the bench.

"You have to go for help."

Nodding, Ianto heads for the door "I'll be right back."

"I'll wait here."

Ianto runs out, looking back at him once from the doorway, then splashes away. Jack looks down at the swirling water.

Ianto splashes down the hall to a stairwell going up to the next deck. He climbs the stairs slipping in the ridiculously slippery shoes so he toes them off and dumps his jacket that is sodden and weighing him down. He bounds up the stairs in his, to find himself in…part of the labyrinth of steerage hallways forward.

He is alone here. A long groan of stressing metal echoes along the hall as the ship continues to settle. He runs down the hall, unimpeded now.

"Hello? Somebody?!"

He turns a corner and runs along another corridor in a daze. The hall slopes down into water which, shimmers, reflecting the light. The margin of the water creeps toward him. A young man appears, running through the water, sending up geysers of spray. He pelts past Ianto without slowing, his eyes crazed...

"Help me! We need help!"

He doesn't look back. It is like a bad dream. The hull gongs with terrifying sounds.

The lights flicker and go out, leaving utter darkness. A beat. Then they come back on. Ianto finds himself hyperventilating. That one moment of blackness was the most terrifying of his life.

A steward runs around the nearest corner, his arms full of lifebelts. He is upset to see someone still in his section. He grabs him forcefully by the arm, pulling him with him like a wayward child. "Come on, then, let's get you topside, sir, that's right."

"Wait. Wait! I need your help! There's…"

"No need for panic, Sir. Come along!"

"No, let me go! You're going the wrong way!" Ianto struggles but he's not listening. And he won't let him go. Ianto shouts in his ear, and when he turns, Ianto punches him squarely in the nose. Shocked, he lets him go and staggers back.

"To Hell with you!"

"See you there, buster!"

The steward runs off, holding his bloody nose. Ianto turns around, sees a glass case with a fire-axe in it. He breaks the glass with a battered suitcase which is lying discarded nearby, and seizes the axe, running back the way he came.

The water has flooded the bottom five steps. he goes down and has to crouch to look along the corridor to the room where Jack is trapped.

Ianto plunges into the water, which is up to his waist... and powers forward, holding the axe above his head in two hands. He grimaces at the pain from the literally freezing water.

Jack has climbed up on the bench, and is hugging the water pipe. Ianto wades in, holding the axe above his head. "Will this work?"

"We'll find out."

They are both terrified, but trying to keep panic at bay. He positions the chain connecting the two cuffs, stretching it taut across the steel pipe. The chain is of course very short, and his exposed wrists are on either side of it.

"Try a couple practice swings."

Ianto hefts the axe and thunks it into a wooden cabinet.

"Now try to hit the same mark again."

Ianto swings hard and the blade thunks in four inches from the mark.

"Okay, that's enough practice." He winces, bracing himself as Ianto raises the axe. he has to hit a target about an inch wide with all the force he can muster, with his hands on either side.

Sounding calm Jack croons "You can do it, Ianto. Hit it as hard as you can, I trust you."

Jack closes his eyes. So does Ianto. The axe comes down. K-WHANG! Ianto gingerly opens his eyes looks... Jack is grinning with two separate cuffs.

Ianto drops the axe, all the strength going out of him.

"Nice work, there, Paul Bunyan." He climbs down into the water next to Ianto. He can't breathe for a second. "Shit! Excuse my French. Ow ow ow, that is cold! Come on, let's go."

They wade out into the hall. Ianto starts toward the stairs going up, but Jack stops him. There is only about a foot of the stairwell opening visible. "Too deep. We gotta find another way out."

The widest passageway in the ship, it is used by crew and steerage alike, and runs almost the length of the ship. Right now steerage passengers move along it like refugees, heading aft.

CRASH! A wooden doorframe splinters and the door bursts open under the force of Jack's shoulder. Jack and Ianto stumble through, into the corridor.

A steward, who was nearby herding people along, marches over. "Here you! You'll have to pay for that, you know. That's White Star Line Property"

Turning together Jack and Ianto yell in unison "Shutup!"

Jack leads Ianto past the dumbfounded steward. They join the steerage stragglers going aft. In places the corridor is almost completely blocked by large families carrying all their luggage.

Jack rubs Ianto's arms and tries to warm him up as they walk along.

.

.

..

Lee stands waiting, sees Hartman hurrying toward him through the aisle connecting the port and starboard sides of the boat deck.

"He's not on the starboard side either."

"We're running out of time. And this strutting martinet..." Lee snarls indicating Lightoller "...isn't letting any men in at all."

"The one on the other side is letting men in."

"Then that's our play. But we're still going to need some insurance." Lee nods, he starts off forward "Come on."

Lee charges off, heading forward, followed by Hartman.

.

.

.

.

At the bow... the place where Jack and Ianto first kissed... the bow railing goes under water.

Smith strides to the bridge rail and looks down at the well deck. Water is shipped over the sides and the well deck is awash. Two men run across the deck, their feet sending up spray. Behind Smith, Boxhall fires another rocket. WHOOSH!

.

.

.

Owen, standing with Helga Dahl and her family, hears Jack's voice.

"Owen! Owen!"

Owen turns and sees Jack and Ianto pushing through the crowd. He and

Jack hug like brothers.

"The boats are all going." Owen says nervously.

"We gotta get up there or we're gonna be gargling saltwater. Where's Tommy?" Jack pants as Owen points over the heads of the solidly packed crowd to the stairwell.

Tommy has his hands on the bars of the steel gate which blocks the head of the stairwell. The crew open the gate a foot or so and a few women are squeezing through.

"Women only. No men or Gentry. No men!"

But some terrified men, not understanding English, try to push Gentry through the gap, forcing the gate open. The crewmen and stewards push them back, shoving and punching them.

"Get back! Get back you lot!"

"Lock it!"

They struggle to get the gate closed again, while Steward #2 brandishes a small revolver. Another holds a fire axe. They lock the gate, and a cry goes up among the crowd, who surge forward, pounding against the steel and shouting in several languages.

"For the love of God, man, there are children down here! Let us up, so we can have a chance!" Tommy cries but the crewmen are scared now. They have let the situation get out of hand, and now they have a mob. Tommy gives up and pushes his way back through the crowd, going down the stairs. He rejoins Jack, Ianto and Owen. "It's hopeless that way."

"Well, whatever we're goin' to do, we better do it fast." Jack agrees.

.

.

.

.

CLUNK!

Lee opens his safe and reaches inside. As Hartman watches, he pulls out two stacks of bills, still banded by bank wrappers. Then he takes out the pocket watch, putting it in the pocket of his overcoat, and locks the safe.

Holding up stacks of bills Lee snorts "I make my own luck."

putting the .45 in his waistband Hartman agrees "So do I.'

Lee grins, putting the money in his pocket as they go out.


	13. Chapter 13

_**13**_

Jack, Ianto, Owen and Tommy are lost, searching for a way out. They push past confused passengers... past a mother changing her baby's diaper on top of an upturned steamer trunk... past a woman arguing heatedly with a man in Serbo-Croatian, a wailing child next to them... past a man kneeling to console a woman who is just sitting on the floor, sobbing... and past another man with an English/Arabic dictionary, trying to figure out what the signs mean, while his wife and children wait patiently.

.

.

.

.

Rhiannon rows with Gwen Cooper, two other women and the incompetent sailors. She rests on her oars, exhausted, and looks back at the ship.

It slants down into the water, still ablaze with light. Nothing is above water forward of the bridge except for the foremast. Another rocket goes off, lighting up the entire area... there are a dozen boats moving outward from the ship.

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.

.

As Lee and Hartman cross the foyer encounter Benjamin Guggenheim and his valet, both dressed in white tie, tail-coats and top hats.

"Ben, what's the occasion?" Lee asks.

"We have dressed in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen." Comes the reply.

"That's admirable, Ben." Lee snorts, walking past "I'll sure and tell your wife... when I get to New York."

Lee and Hartman are walking aft with a purposeful stride.

Panic is setting around the remaining boats aft. The crowd here is now a mix of all three classes. Officers repeatedly warn men back from the boats. The crowd presses in closer.

Lightoller pulls out his Webley revolver and aims it at them. "Get back! Keep order!"

The men back down. Fifth Officer Lowe standing in the boat, yells to the crew.

Lee and Hartman arrive in time to see Murdoch lowering his last boat. "We're too late."

"There are still some boats forward. Stay with this one... Murdoch. He seems to be quite... practical." Hartman replies.

"It's starting to fall apart. We don't have much time." Lee mutters as he sees three dogs run by, including the black French bulldog. Someone has released the pets from the kennels.

Lee sees Murdoch turn from the davits of boat 15 and start walking toward the bow. He catches up and falls in beside him.

"Mr. Murdoch, I'm a businessman, as you know, and I have a business proposition for you.".

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.

Jack, Ianto and their group burst out onto the boat deck from the crew stairs just aft of the third funnel. They look at the empty davits.

"The boats are gone!" Ianto cries with horror. Hhe sees Colonel Gracie chugging forward along the deck, escorting two first class ladies. "Colonel! Are there any boats left?"

"Yes, sir... there are still a couple of boats all the way forward. This way, I'll lead you!" he yells.

Jack grabs Ianto's hand and they sprint past Gracie, with Tommy and Owen close behind.

..

.

.

.

The crowd is sparse, with most people still aft. Lee slips his hand out of the pocket of his overcoat and into the waist pocket of Murdoch's greatcoat, leaving the stacks of bills there. "So we have an understanding then?"

Nodding curtly Murdock looks away "As you've said.'

Lee, satisfied, steps back. He finds himself waiting next to J. Bruce Ismay. Ismay does not meet his eyes, nor anyone's.

Hartman comes up to Lee at that moment. "I've found him. He's just over on the port side. With _him_."

Women and children? Any more women and children?" Murdoch asks glancing at Leel "Anyone else, then?"

Lee looks longingly at his boat... his moment has arrived. "God damn it to hell! Come on."

He and Hartman head for the port side, taking a short-cut through the bridge.

Bruce Ismay, seeing his opportunity, steps quickly into Collapsible C. He stares straight ahead, not meeting Murdoch's eyes.

staring at Ismay Murdock orders "Take them down."

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"Women and children, please. Women and children only. Step back, sir."

Even with Jack's arms wrapped around him, Ianto is shivering in the cold. Jack turns to Tommy and Owen "You better check out the other side."

They nod and run off, searching for a way around the deckhouse.

"I'm not going without you." Ianto splutters.

"Get in the boat, Ianto."

Lee walks up just then. "Yes. Get in the boat, Ianto."

He is shocked to see him. He steps instinctively to Jack. Lee looks at him, standing there shivering in his wet shirt and stockings, a shocking display in 1912.

"My God, look at you." Lee sighs taking off his coat "Here, put this on."

he numbly shrugs into it. He is doing it for modesty, not the cold.

"Quickly, ladies and Gentry. Step into the boat. Hurry, please!"

"Go on. I'll get the next one." Jack promises.

"No. Not without you!" Ianto sobs. He doesn't even care that Lee is standing right there. He sees the emotion between Jack and Ianto and his jaw clenches.

But then he leans close to Ianto and says in a low tone "There are boats on the other side that are allowing men in. Jack and I can get off safely. Both of us."

Jack smiles reassuringly "I'll be alright. Hurry up so we can get going... we got our own boat to catch."

"Get in... hurry up, it's almost full." Lee prods as Lightoller grabs Ianto's arm and pulls him toward the boat. He reaches out for Jack and his fingers brush his for a moment. Then he finds himself stepping down into the boat. It's all a rush and blur.

"Lower away!"

The two men watch at the rail as the boat begins to descend.

Lee hisses low "You're a good liar."

"Almost as good as you." Jack responds as he still smiles down at Ianto who looks back with wild eyes.

"I always win, Jack. One way or another." Lee looks at him, smiling "Pity I didn't keep that drawing. It's going to be worth a lot more by morning."

Jack knows he is screwed. He looks down at Ianto, not wanting to waste a second of his last view of him.

The ropes going through the pulleys as the seamen start to lower. All sound going away... Lightoller giving orders, his lips moving... but Ianto hears only the blood pounding in his ears... this cannot be happening... a rocket bursts above in slow-motion, outlining Jack in a halo of light... Ianto's hair blowing in slow motion as he gazes up at him, descending away from him... he sees his hand trembling, the tears at the corners of Jack's eyes, and cannot believe the unbearable pain he is feeling... Ianto is still staring up, tears pouring down his face.

SUDDENLY HE IS MOVING.

He lunges across the women next to him. Reaches the gunwale, climbing it... Hurls himself out of the boat to the rail of the A-Deck promenade, catching it, and scrambling over the rail. The Boat 2 continues down. But Ianto is back on Titanic.

"No Ianto!" Jack screams "NOOOO!"

Jack spins from the rail, running for the nearest way down to A-Deck.

Hallett too has seen him jump. Ianto is willing to die for this man, this gutter scum. He is overwhelmed by a rage so all consuming it eclipses all thought.

Jack bangs through the doors to the foyer and sprints down the stairs. He sees Ianto coming into A-deck foyer, running toward him, Lee's long coat flying out behind him as he runs.

They meet at the bottom of the stairs, and collide in an embrace.

"Ianto, Ianto, you're so stupid, you're such an idiot-…"Jakc sobs and all the while he's kissing Ianto and holding him as tight as he can.

"You jump, I jump, right?"

"Right."

Hallett comes in and runs to the railing. Looking down he sees them locked in their embrace. Hartman comes up behind Lee and puts a restraining hand on him, but Lee whips around, grabbing the pistol from Hartman's waistband in one cobra-fast move. He runs along the rail and down the stairs. As he reaches the landing above them he raises the gun. Screaming in rage, he FIRES.

The carved cherub at the foot of the centre railing explodes. Jack pulls Ianto toward the stairs going down to the next deck. Lee fires again, running down the steps toward them. A bullet blows a divot out of the oak panelling behind Jack's head as he pulls Ianto down the next flight of stairs.

Hallett steps on the skittering head of the cherub statue and goes sprawling. The gun clatters across the marble floor. He gets up, and reeling drunkenly goes over to retrieve it.

The bottom of the grand staircase is flooded several feet deep. Jack and Ianto come down the stairs two at a time and run straight into the water, fording across the room to where the floor slopes up, until they reach dry footing at the entrance to the dining saloon.

Lee reels down the stairs in time to see Jack and Ianto splashing through the water toward the dining saloon. He fires twice. Big gouts of spray near them, but he's not a great shot.

The water boils up around his feet and he retreats up the stairs a couple of steps. Around him the Woodward groans and creaks.

Calling to them Lee mocks "Enjoy your time together!"

Hartman arrives next to him. Lee suddenly remembers something and starts to laugh.

"What could possibly be funny?" Hartman asks.

"I put the watch in my coat pocket. And I put my coat... on him." He turns to Hartman with a sickly expression, his eyes glittering. "I give it to you... if you can get it."

He hands Hartman the pistol and goes back up the stairs. Hartman thinks about it... then slogs into the water. The ice water is up to his waist as he crosses the pool into the dining saloon.

Hartman moves among the tables and ornate columns, searching... listening... his eyes tracking rapidly. It is a sea of tables, and they could be anywhere. A silver serving trolley rolls downhill, bumping into tables and pillars.

He glances behind him. The water is following him into the room, advancing in a hundred foot wide tide. The reception room is now a roiling lake, and the grand staircase is submerged past the first landing. Monstrous groans echo through the ship.

Crouched behind a table, somewhere in the middle is Jack and Ianto. They see the water advancing toward them, swirling over the floor. They crawl ahead of it to the next row of tables.

Whispering, Jack says "Stay here."

He moves off as Hartman moves over one row and looks along the tables. Nothing.

A cart rolls toward Ianto. It hits a table and the stacks of dishes topple out, exploding across the floor and showering him. He scrambles out of the way and Hartman spins, seeing him. He moves rapidly toward him, keeping the gun aimed. That's when Jack tackles him from the side. They slam together into a table, crashing over it, and toppling to the floor. They land in the water which is flowing rapidly between the tables.

Jack and Hartman grapple in the icy water. Jack jams his knee down on Hartman's hand, breaking his grip on the pistol, and kicks it away. Hartman scrambles up and lunges at him, but Jack gut punches him right in the solar plexus, doubling him over.

"Compliments of the Chippewa Falls Harkness." Jack preens.

He grabs Hartman and slams him into an ornate column. Hartman drops to the floor with a splash, stunned.

"Let's go."


	14. Chapter 14

_**14**_

Jack and Ianto run aft... uphill... entering the galley. Behind them the tables have become islands in a lake... and the far end of the room is flooded up to the ceiling.

Hartman gets up and looks around for his gun. He pulls it up out of the water and wades after them.

They run through the galley and Ianto spots the stairs. Ianto starts up and Jack grabs his hand. He leads him down.

They crouch together on the landing as Hartman runs to the stairs. Assuming they have gone up (who wouldn't?) he climbs up them two at a time.

They wait for the footstep to recede. Then they hear it... a crying child. Below them. They go down a few steps to looks along the next deck.

The corridor is awash, about a foot deep. Standing against the wall, about 50 feet away, is a little boy, about 3. The water swirls around his legs and he is wailing.

"We can't leave him." Ianto whimpers and Jack nods and they leave the promise of escape up the stairwell to run to the child. Jack scoops up the kid and they run back to the stairs but A torrent of water comes pouring down the stairs like rapids. In seconds it is too powerful for them to go against.

"Come on." Kacl bellows charging the other way down the flooding corridor, they blast up spray with each footstep. At the end of the hall are heavy double doors. As Jack approaches them he sees water spraying through the gap between the doors right up to the ceiling. The doors groan and start to crack under the tons of pressure.

"Back! Go back!"

Ianto pivots and runs back the way they came, taking a turn into a cross-corridor. A man is coming the other way. He sees the boy in Jack's arms and cries out, grabbing him away from Jack. Starts cursing him in Russian. He runs on with the boy as Ianto cries out "No! Not that way! Come back!"

A wall of water thunders into the corridor. The father and child disappear instantly.

Jack and Ianto run as a wave blasts around the corner, foaming from floor to ceiling. It gains on them like a locomotive. They make it to a stairway going up.

Jack and Ianto pound up the steps as white water swirls up behind them.

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Lee comes reeling out of the first class entrance, looking wild-eyed. The lurches down the deck toward the bridge. Waltz music wafts over the ship. Somewhere the band is still playing.

A little girl, maybe two years old, is crying along in the alcove. She looks up at Lee beseechingly. Lee moves on without a glance back... reaching a large crowd clustered around a boat just aft of the bridge. He sees Murdoch and a number of crewmen struggling to drag the boat to the davits, with no luck.

Lee pushes forward, trying to signal Murdoch, but the officer ignores him. Nearby Tommy and Owen are being pushed forward by the crowd behind.

.

.

..

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Jack and Ianto run up seemingly endless stairs as the ship groans and torques around them.

.

..

.

"I'll shoot any man who tries to get past me." Murdock shouts wildly waving the gun.

Lee steps up to him. "We had a deal, damn you."

Murdoch pushes him back, pointing the pistol at Lee "Get back!"

A man next to Tommy rushes forward, and Tommy is shoved from behind.

Murdoch shoots the first man, and seeing Tommy coming forward, puts a bullet into his chest.

Tommy collapses, and Owen grabs him, holding him in his arms as his life flows out over the deck.

Murdoch turns to his men and salutes smartly. Then he puts the pistol to his temple and... BLAM! He drops like a puppet with the strings cut and topples over the edge of the boat deck into the water only a few feet below.

Lee stares in horror at Murdoch's body bobbing in the black water. The money floats out of the pocket of his greatcoat, the bills spreading across the surface.

The crew rush to get the last few women and Gentry aboard the boat. "Any more women or children?!"

The child crying in the alcove. Lee scoops her up and runs forward, cradling her in his arms.

Forcing his way through the crowd Lee cries "Here's a child! I've got a child! Please... I'm all she has in the world."

McElroy nods curtly and pushes him into the boat. He spins with his gun, brandishing it in the air to keep the other men back. Lee gets into the boat, holding the little girl. He takes a seat with the women. "There, there."

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FIRST CLASS SMOKE ROOM

Thomas Andrews stands in front of the fireplace, staring at the large painting above the mantle. The fire is still going in the fireplace.

The room is empty except for Andrews. An ashtray falls off the table. Behind him Jack and Ianto run into the room, out of breath and soaked. They run through, toward the aft revolving door... then Ianto recognizes him. He sees that his lifebelt is off, lying on a table. "Won't you even make a try for it, Mr. Andrews?"

A tear rolls down his cheek as he blinks at the handsome Gentry "I'm sorry that I didn't build you a stronger ship, young Ianto."

"It's going fast... we've got to keep moving." Jack says gently as he tugs at Ianto.

Andrews picks up his lifebelt and hands it to Ianto "Good luck to you, Ianto."

Hugging him Ianto sobs "And to you, Mr. Andrews."

Jack pulls him away and they run through the revolving door.

Andrews stands like a statue. He pulls out his pocket watch and checks the time. Then he opens the face of the mantle clock and adjusts it to the correct time: 2:12 a.m. Everything must be correct.

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.

A wave travels up the boat deck as the bridge house sinks into the water.

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.

Collapsible B is picked up by water. Working frantically, the men try to detach it from the falls so the ship won't drag it under. Colonel Gracie hands Lightoller a pocket knife and he saws furiously at the ropes as the water swirls around his legs. The boat, still upside down, is swept off the ship. Men start diving in, swimming to stay with it.

Lee sits next to the wailing child, whom he has completely forgotten. He watches the water rising around the men as they work, scrambling to get the ropes cut so the ship won't drag the collapsible under.

Owen removes the lifebelt from Tommy's body and struggles to put it on as the water rises around him.

Collapsible A is hit by a wave as the bow plunges suddenly. It partially swamps the boat, washing it along the deck. Over a hundred passengers are plunged into the freezing water and the area around the boat becomes a frenzy of splashing, screaming people.

As men are trying to climb into the collapsible, Lee grabs an oar and pushes them back into the water. "Get back! You'll swamp us!'

Owen, swimming for his life, gets swirled under a davit. The ropes and pulleys tangle around him as the davit goes under the water, and he is dragged down. Underwater he struggles to free himself, and then kicks back to the surface. He surfaces, gasping for air in the freezing water.

Jack and Ianto run out unto a dense crowd. Jack pushes his way to the rail and looks at the state of the ship. The bridge is under water and there is chaos on deck. Jack helps Ianto put the lifebelt on. People stream around them, shouting and pushing.

"Okay... we keep moving aft. We have to stay on the ship as long as possible." Jack decides and they push their way aft through the panicking crowd.

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.

.

Collapsible A is whirled like a leaf in the currents around the sinking ship. It slams against the side of the forward funnel.

Lee screams to the crew in the boat "Row! Row you bastards!"

Owen is drawn up against the grating of a vent as water pours through it. The force of tons of water roaring down the ship traps him against it, and he is dragged down under the surface as the ship sinks. He struggles to free himself but cannot.

Suddenly there is a concussion deep in the bowels of the ship as a furnace explodes and a blast of hot air belches out of the ventilator, ejecting Owen. He surfaces in a roar of foam and keeps swimming.

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Jack and Ianto clamber over the A-Deck aft rail. Then, using all his strength, he lowers Ianto toward the deck below, holding on with one hand. He dangles, then falls. Jack jumps down behind him.

They join a crush of people literally clawing and scrambling over each other to get down the narrow stairs to the well deck... the only way aft.

Seeing that the stairs are impossible, Jack climbs over the B-Deck railing and helps Ianto over. He lowers Ianto again, and he falls in a heap. Baker Joughin, now three sheets to the wind, happens to be next to him. He hauls Ianto to his feet. Jack drops down and the three of them push through the crowd across the well deck. Near them, at the rail, people are jumping into the water.

The ship GROANS and SHUDDERS.

The man ahead of Jack is walking like a zombie. "Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…"

"You wanna walk a little faster through that valley, fella?" Jack roars.

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The stay cables along the top of the funnel snap, and they lash like steel whips down into the water. Lee watches as the funnel topples from its mounts. Falling like a temple pillar twenty eight feet across it whomps into the water with a tremendous splash. People swimming underneath it disappear in an instant.

Owen, a few feet away, is hurled back by a huge wave. He comes up, gasping... still swimming. The water pouring into the open end of the funnel draws in several swimmers. The funnel sinks, disappearing, but Hundreds of tons of water pour down through the 30 foot hole where the funnel stood, thundering down into the belly of the ship. A whirlpool forms, a hole in the ocean, like at enormous toiler-flush. T. W. McCauley, the gym instructor swims in a frenzy as the vortex draws him in. He is,sucked down like a spider going down a drain.

Owen, nearby, swims like Hell as more people are sucked down behind him. He manages to get clear. He's going to live no matter what it takes.


	15. Chapter 15

_**15**_

Water roars through the doors and windows, cascading down the stairs like a rapids. John Jacob Astor is swept down the marble steps to A-Deck, which is already flooded... a roiling vortex. He grabs the headless cherub at the bottom of the staircase and wraps his arms around it.

Below decks. The flooding is horrific. Walls and doors are splintered like kindling. Water roars down corridors with pile-driver force.

Ianto and Jack struggle to climb the well deck stairs as the ship tilts. Drunk Baker Joughin puts a hand squarely on Ianto's butt and shoves him up onto the deck. "Sorry, sir"

Hundreds of people are already on the poop deck, and more are pouring up every second. Jack and Ianto cling together as they struggle across the tilting deck.

As the bow goes down, the stern rises.

People are jumping from the well deck, the poop deck, the gangway doors. Some hit debris in the water and are hurt or killed.

Jack and Ianto struggle aft as the angle increases. Hundreds of passengers, clinging to every fixed object on deck, huddle on their knees around Father Byles, who has his voice raised in prayer. They are praying, sobbing, or just staring at nothing, their minds blank with dread.

Pulling himself from handhold to handhold, Jack tugs Ianto aft along the deck. "Come on, Ianto. We can't expect God to do all the work for us."

They struggle on, pushing through the praying people. A Gentleman loses his footing ahead and slides toward them. Jack helps him.

The propellers are twenty feet above the water and rising faster.

They make it to the stern rail, right at the base of the flagpole. They grip the rail, jammed in between other people. It is the spot where Jack pulled him back onto the ship, just two night... and a lifetime... ago.

Above the wailing and sobbing, Father Byles' voice carries, cracking with emotion. "...and I saw new heavens and a new earth. The former heavens and the former earth had passed away and the sea was no longer."

The lights flicker, threatening to go out. Ianto grips Jack as the stern rises into a night sky ablaze with stars.

"I also saw a new Jerusalem, the holy city coming down out of heaven from God, beautiful as a bride prepared to meet her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne ring out this is God's dwelling among men. He shall dwell with them and they shall be his people and He shall be their God who is always with them."

Ianto stares about at the faces of the doomed. Ianto sees a young mother next to him, clutching her five year old son, who is crying in terror.

"Shhh. Don't cry. It'll be over soon, darling. It'll all be over soon."

"He shall wipe every tear from their eyes. And there shall be no more death or mourning, crying out or pain, for the former world has passed away."

As the ship tilts further everything not bolted down inside shifts.

Passengers lose their grip and slide down the wooden deck like a bobsled run, hundreds of feet before they hit the water.

The propellers are 100 feet out of the water and rising. Panicking people leap from the poop deck rail, fall screaming and hit the water like mortar rounds. A man falls from the poop deck, hitting the bronze hub of the starboard propeller with a sickening smack.

Rhiannon watches as the sounds of the dying ship and the screaming people come across the water. The Titanic, her lights blazing, reflecting in the still water. Its stern is high in the air, angles up over forty five degrees. The propellers are 150 feet out of the water. Over a thousand passengers cling to the decks, looking from a distance like a swarm of bees.

The image is shocking, unbelievable, unthinkable. Rhiannon stares at the spectacle, unable to frame it or put it into any proportion.

"God Almighty." Gwen breathes with horror.

The great liner's lights flicker.

A loud CRACKING REPORT comes across the water.

Near the third funnel a man clutches the ship's rail. He stares down as the deck splits right between his feet. A yawning chasm opens with a thunder of breaking steel. Hartman is clutching the railing on the roof of the Officers' Mess. He watches in horror as the ship's structure RIPS APART right in front of him. He gapes down into a widening maw, seeing straight down into the bowels of the ship, amid a BOOMING CONCUSSION like the sound of artillery. People falling into the widening crevasse look like dolls.

The stay cables on the funnel part and snap across the decks like whips, ripping off davits and ventilators. A man is hit by a whipping cable and snatched away. Another cable smashes the rail next to Hartman and it rips free. He falls backward into the pit of jagged metal.

Fires, explosions and sparks light the yawning chasm as the hull splits down through nine decks to the keel. The sea pours into the gaping wound

The stern of the ship, almost four hundred feet long, falls back toward the water. On the poop deck everyone screams as they feel themselves plummeting. The sound goes up like the roar of fans at a baseball stadium when a run is scored.

Swimming in the water directly under the stern a few unfortunates shriek as they see the keel coming down on them like God's boot heel. The massive stern section falls back almost level, thundering down into the sea and pushing out a mighty wave of displaced water.

Jack and Ianto struggle to hold onto the stern rail. They feel the ship seemingly RIGHT ITSELF. Some of those praying think it is salvation. "We're saved!"

Jack looks at Ianto and shakes his head, grimly.

Now the horrible mechanics play out. Pulled down by the awesome weight of the flooded bow, the buoyant stern tilts up rapidly. They feel the rush of ascent as the fantail angles up again. Everyone is clinging to benches, railings, ventilators... anything to keep from sliding as the stern lifts.

The stern goes up and up, past 45 degrees, then past sixty.

People start to fall, sliding and tumbling. They skid down the deck, screaming and flailing to grab onto something. They wrench other people loose and pull them down as well. There is a pile-up of bodies at the forward rail.

"We have to move!" Jack tells. He climbs over the stern rail and reaches back for Ianto. He is terrified to move. He grabs his hand. "Come on! I've got you!"

Jack pulls him over the rail. It is the same place he pulled him over the rail two nights earlier, going the other direction. He gets over just as the railing is going horizontal, and the deck vertical. Jack grips him fiercely.

The stern is now straight up in the air... a rumbling black monolith standing against the stars. It hangs there like that for a long grace note, its buoyancy stable.

Ianto lies on the railing, looking down fifteen stories to the boiling sea at the base of the stern section. People near them, who didn't climb over, hang from the railing, their legs dangling over the long drop. They fall one by one, plummeting down the vertical face of the poop deck. Some of them bounce horribly off deck benches and ventilators.

Jack and Ianto lie side by side on what was the vertical face of the hull, gripping the railing, which is now horizontal. Just beneath their feet are the gold letters TORCHWOOD - Titanic Line emblazoned across the stern.

Ianto stares down terrified at the black ocean waiting below to claim them. Jack looks to his left and sees Baker Joughin, crouching on the hull, holding onto the railing. It is a surreal moment.

Nodding a greeting Joughin says calmly "Helluva night."

The final relentless plunge begins as the stern section floods. Looking down a hundred feet to the water, we drop like an elevator with Jack and Ianto.

Talking fast Jack gives orders "Take a deep breath and hold it right before we go into the water. The ship will suck us down. Kick for the surface and keep kicking. Don't let go of my hand. We're gonna make it Ianto. Trust me."

Ianto stares at the water coming up at them, and grips his hand harder. "I trust you."

Below them the poop deck is disappearing. The plunge gathers speed... the boiling surface engulfs the docking bridge and then rushes up the last thirty feet.

Where the ship stood, now there is nothing. Only the black ocean.

Bodies are whirled and spun, some limp as dolls, others struggling spasmodically, as the vortex sucks them down and tumbles them.

280 Jack rises kicking hard for the surface... holding tightly to Ianto, pulling him up.

A rolling chaos of screaming, thrashing people. Over a thousand people are now floating where the ship went down. Some are stunned, gasping for breath. Others are crying, praying, moaning, shouting... screaming.

Jack and Ianto surface among them. They barely have time to gasp for air before people are clawing at them. People driven insane by the water, 4 degrees below freezing, a cold so intense it is indistinguishable form death by fire.

A man pushes Ianto under, trying to climb on top of him... senselessly trying to get out of the water, to climb onto anything. Jack punches him repeatedly, pulling Ianto free.

"Swim, Ianto! SWIM!"

He tries, but his strokes are not as effective as his because of the

Lifejacket. They break out of the clot of people. He has to find some kind of flotation, anything to get him out of the freezing water.

"Keep swimming. Keep moving. Come one, you can do it."

All about them there is a tremendous wailing, screaming and moaning... a chorus of tormented souls. And beyond that... nothing but black water stretching to the horizon. The sense of isolation and hopelessness is overwhelming.

Jack strokes rhythmically, the effort keeping him from freezing.

"Look for something floating. Some debris... wood... anything."

"It's so cold."

"I know. I know. Help me, here. Look around." his words keep Ianto focused, taking his mind off the wailing around them. Ianto scans the water, panting, barely able to draw a breath. He turns and... SCREAMS.

A DEVIL is right in from of his face. It is the black French BulldogG, swimming right at him like a sea monster in the darkness, its coal eyes bugging. It motors past him, like it is headed for Newfoundland.

Beyond it Ianto sees something in the water. "What's that?"

Jack sees what he is pointing to, and they make for it together. It is a piece of wooden debris, intricately carved. He pushes him up and he slithers onto it belly down.

But when Jack tries to get up onto the thing, it tilts and submerges, almost dumping Ianto off. It seems only big enough to support Ianto Jack clangs to it, close to him, keeping his upper body out of the water as best he can.

Their breath floats around them in a cloud as they pant from exertion. A man swims toward them, homing in on the piece of debris. Jack warns him back. "It's just enough for this lord... you'll push it under."


	16. Chapter 16

_**16**_

"Jack it's me Owen. Come on, We can counterweight it to get on!" Owen yells desperately as Ianto whimpers his agreement.

They try it, Jack holding fast to one end as Ianto places his weight there as well and Owen clambers on, then with a nod they reverse it, Jack getting on as the door wobbles then corrects.

They can't believe it worked.

They huddle together for warmth as Ianto shivers and clutches at them.

Jack and Ianto still float with Owen amid a chorus of the damned. Jack sees the ship's officer nearby. He is blowing his whistle furiously, knowing the sound will carry over the water for miles.

"The boats will come back for us, Ianto. Hold on just a little longer. They had to row away for the suction and now they'll be coming back." Jack pants and Ianto nods, his words helping him. he is shivering uncontrollably, his lips blue and her teeth chattering.

People are still screaming, calling to the lifeboats.

Rhiannon has her ears covered against the wailing in the darkness.

The first class women in the boat sit, stunned, listening to the sounds of hundreds screaming.

"They'll pull us right down I tell ya!"

"Aw knock it off, yer scarin' me. Come on girls, grab your oars. Let's go." Gwen roars.

Nobody moves.

"Well come on!"

The women won't meet her eyes. They huddle into their ermine wraps.

"I don't understand a one of you. What's the matter with you? It's your men back there! We got plenty a' room for more."

"If you don't shut that hole in yer face, there'll be one less in this boat!"

Rhiannon keeps her ears covered and her eyes closed, shutting it all out.

Jack and Ianto drift under the blazing stars. The water is glassy, with only the faintest undulating swell. Ianto can actually see the stars reflecting on the black mirror of the sea.

Jack squeezes the water out of the long coat, tucking it in tightly around Ianto's legs. He rubs his arms. His face is chalk with in the darkness. A low moaning in the darkness around them.

"It's getting quiet." Ianto whispers.

"Just a few more minutes. It'll take them a while to get the boats organized..." Jack says. Ianto is unmoving, just staring into space. He knows the truth. There won't be any boats. Behind Jack he sees that Officer Wilde has stopped moving. He is slumped in his lifejacket, looking almost asleep. He has died of exposure already.

"I don't know about you, but I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about all this." Owen suddenly says and Ianto laughs weakly, but it sounds like a gasp of fear.

Ianto finds Jack's eyes in the dim light. "I love you Jack."

He takes Ianto's hand. "No... don't say your good-byes, Ianto. Don't you give up. Don't do it."

"I'm so cold."

"You're going to get out of this... you're going to go on and you're going to make babies and watch them grow and you're going to die an old lord, warm in your bed. Not here. Not this night. Do you understand me?"

"I can't feel my body."

"Ianto, listen to me. Listen. Winning that ticket was the best thing that ever happened to me." Jack is having trouble getting the breath to speak. "It brought me to you. And I'm thankful, Ianto. I'm thankful."

His voice is trembling with the cold which is working its way to his heart. But his eyes are unwavering. "You must do me this honour... promise me you will survive... that you will never give up... no matter what happens... no matter how hopeless...promise me now, and never let go of that promise."

"I promise."

"Never let go."

"I promise. I will never let go, Jack. I'll never let go." He grips his hand and they all huddle with their heads together. It is quiet now, except for the lapping of the water.

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The beam of an electric torch plays across the water like a searchlight as boat 14 comes toward them.

A torch illuminates floating debris, a poignant trail of flotsam: a violin, a child's wooden soldier, a framed photo of a steerage family. Daniel Marvin's wooden Biograph camera.

Then, their white lifebelts bobbing in the darkness like sign posts, the first bodies come into the torch's beam. The people are dead but not drowned, killed by the freezing water. Some look like they could be sleeping. Others stare with frozen eyes at the stars.

Soon bodies are so thick the seamen cannot row. They hit the oars on the heads of floating men and women... a wooden thunk. One seaman throws up. Lowe sees a mother floating with her arms frozen around her lifeless baby.

"We waited too long."

Jack, Owen and Ianto floating in the black water.

The stars reflect in the mill pond surface, and the three of them seem to be floating in interstellar space. They are absolutely still. Their hands are locked together. Ianto is staring upwards at the canopy of stars wheeling above him. The music is transparent, floating... as the long sleep steals over Ianto, and he feels peace.

Ianto is in a semi-hallucinatory state. he knows he is dying. Her lips barely move as he sings a scrap of Jack's song ""Come Josephine in my flying machine..."

A shooting star flares... a line of light across the heavens.

Ianto's hair is dusted with frost crystals. His breathing is so shallow, he is almost motionless. His eyes track down from the stars to the water.

The silhouette of a boat crossing the stars.

He sees men in it, rowing so slowly the oars lift out of the syrupy water, leaving weightless pearls floating in the air. The voices of the men sound slow and distorted.

Then the lookout flashes his torch toward him and the light flares across the water, silhouetting the bobbing corpses in between. It flicks past his motionless form and moves on. The boat is 50 feet away, and moving past her. The men look away.

Ianto lifts his head to turn to Jack. He croak is barely audible "Jack."

He touches Jack's shoulder with his free hand. He doesn't respond. Ianto gently turns his face toward him. It is rimed with frost.

He seems to be sleeping peacefully. The voices are fainter. Ianto watches them go.

He closes his eyes. he is so weak, and there just seems to be no reason to even try.

And then... his eyes snap open.

He raises his head suddenly, he calls out, but his voice is so weak they don't hear him. The boat is invisible now, the torch light a star impossibly far away. he struggles to draw breath, calling again.

Ianto struggles to move. His hand, he realizes, is actually frozen to Jack's. he breaths on it, melting the ice a little, and gently unclasps their hands, breaking away a thin tinkling film.

"I won't let go. I promise" he whispers as Jack starts to roll away and he clutches at Jack's jacket as he reaches back for Owen and grabs his whistle. He starts to BLOW THE WHISTLE with all the strength in his body. Its sound slaps across the still water.

Lowe whips around at the sound of the whistle. He is turning the tiller "Row back! That way! Pull!"

Ianto keeps blowing as the boat comes to him. He is still blowing when Lowe takes the whistle from his mouth as they haul him into the boat. He slips into unconsciousness and they scramble to cover him with blankets...

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Ismay in a trance, just staring and trembling... Lee, sipping from a hip flask offered to him by a black-faced stoker... Rhiannon hugging herself, rocking gently.

Ianto, lying swaddled. Only his face is visible, white as the moon. The man next to him jumps up, pointing and yelling. Soon everyone is looking and shouting excitedly.

Lowe lights a green flare and waves it as everyone shouts and cheers. Ianto doesn't react.

Golden light washes across the white boats, which gloat in a calm sea reflecting the rosy sky. All around them, like a flotilla of sailing ships,are icebergs. The CARPATHIA sits nearby, as boats row toward her.

Ianto watching, rocked by the sea, his face blank... seamen helping survivors up the rope ladder to the Carpathia's gangway doors... two women crying and hugging each other inside the ship... Ianto, outside of time, outside of himself, coming into Carpathia, barely able to stand... Ianto being draped with warm blankets and given hot tea... Ismay climbing aboard. He has the face and eyes of a damned soul.

As Ismay walks along the hall, guided by a crewman toward the doctor's cabin, he passes rows of seated and standing widows. He must run the gauntlet of their accusing gazes.

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It is the afternoon of the 15th. Lee is searching the faces of the widows lining the deck, looking for Ianto. The deck of Carpathia is crammed with huddled people, and even the recovered lifeboats of Titanic. On a hatch cover sits an enormous pile of lifebelts.

He keeps walking toward the stern. Seeing Lee's tuxedo, a steward approaches him. "You won't find any of your people back here, sir. It's all steerage."

Lee ignores him and goes amongst this wrecked group, looking under shawls and blankets at one bleak face after another.

Ianto is sipping hot tea. His eyes focus on him as he approaches him. He walks past not recognizing him. He looks like a refugee, his matted hair hanging in his eyes.

A steward follows with a clipboard and kneels, "Names please? For the list of survivors?"

"Ianto" Ianto finally croaks and hesitates, then adds "Harkness. Ianto Harkness."

"And Jack Harkness, his mate" another voice says with more strength as Jack turns from watching Lee to face the steward, "And the one asleep at my feet is Owen Harper."

The Steward nods and moves away as Ianto settles once more with Jack throwing his blanket around them both as Jack snorts, "Look at him. Sleeps like the dead that man."

"Let him sleep" Ianto smiles down at Owen then looks up at Toshiko starts towards them with a tray of hot drinks, her lifejacket still on despite the assurance this boat would not sink like the last one… the lifeboat that had pulled her aboard a wondrous thing, "We will have strength to celebrate soon enough."

As he speaks his hand goes into the pocket where he feels the watch in the palm of his hand.

Yes.

They will all give thanks.

The End

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This classic didn't need much tweaking… I felt bad changing anything really but we all know the ending sucked in the original.

Thanks for reading.


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